Thursday, November 28, 2013
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
time to go to bed
The owl outside my window is like a demented alarm clock,
urging me to go to bed.
hoot hoot
it's late
hoot hoot
go to sleep
hoot hoot
hoot hoot
I hit the "not yet" mentally -
then the delay passes
and the owl again urges me to sleep, to sleep, it's late.
urging me to go to bed.
hoot hoot
it's late
hoot hoot
go to sleep
hoot hoot
hoot hoot
I hit the "not yet" mentally -
then the delay passes
and the owl again urges me to sleep, to sleep, it's late.
Monday, November 25, 2013
favor from a physicist
So, the dialogue went like this:
me: Hey, are you still on campus? I need a favor.
him: I am. What do you need?
me: I'm stranded at Wendy's and my car won't start. I have help coming, but I don't know when they will get here and class is at 6. Could you leave a note on the board and ask them to stay until I get there? Tonight is their last test.
him: I can do that. Which room?
me: 2502. Just let them know I will be a little late and to please stay.
short time passes
him: Done! Hope your car problem turns out to be something cheap and easy ... like a good date!
me: lol! Thank you!
So, the car gets started, and I get to the school, just a few minutes late. I rush to make copies of the test and head to the room, where everyone is sitting, waiting, in accordance with the message on the board.
Are you ready for this?
me: Hey, are you still on campus? I need a favor.
him: I am. What do you need?
me: I'm stranded at Wendy's and my car won't start. I have help coming, but I don't know when they will get here and class is at 6. Could you leave a note on the board and ask them to stay until I get there? Tonight is their last test.
him: I can do that. Which room?
me: 2502. Just let them know I will be a little late and to please stay.
short time passes
him: Done! Hope your car problem turns out to be something cheap and easy ... like a good date!
me: lol! Thank you!
So, the car gets started, and I get to the school, just a few minutes late. I rush to make copies of the test and head to the room, where everyone is sitting, waiting, in accordance with the message on the board.
Are you ready for this?
Friday, November 22, 2013
charles in charge
Today, for some reason, I actually thought about it.
I blame the bfe; lunch with a physicist has that effect.
This email is usually titled "Physics of Hell", even though it is referring to a gas law used in chemistry.
Today, after the afore-mentioned (celebration of his fourth-decade birthday) lunch with the bfe, I realized something: the following is most likely a myth or urban legend.
No! Say it ain't so!
I wish I could. Perhaps if they had referred to the correct gas law, I would have accepted it as gospel.
I guess it just shows you how easy it is to read something in a hurry and not comprehend what is actually written.
So, here is the piece for your enjoyment. I will follow it with a brief discussion of the gas laws which should have been used and why "Boyle's Law" was an incorrect choice.
*******************************************************
*******************************************************
HELL EXPLAINED
BY A CHEMISTRY STUDENT
The following is an actual question given on a University of Arizona chemistry midterm, and an actual answer turned in by a student.
The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.
Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. {This is an erroneous application of this law, as I will soon explain.}
One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving, which is unlikely. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.
Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. {This is another erroneous application of Boyle's Law, as I will explain.}
This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct..... ...leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'
THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.
*******************************************************
*******************************************************
If this "student" did truly exist and did truly write the above essay and did truly receive an "A+" grade, then the "teacher" must have been too consumed with laughter to recognize the errors.
Boyle's Law concerns the indirect relationship between volume and pressure. Specifically, the Law states that for an ideal gas at constant temperature and constant amount of gas, changes in volume are indirectly related to changes in pressure.
In GOB chemistry, this law is called the Law of Respiration.
Breathing?
Exactly. Consider the lungs, flexible vessels for the containment and processing of air. The volume, or amount of air which the lungs can hold, is controlled by the placement of the diaphragm (the muscle which separates the thoracic and abdominal cavities of the body).
As the diaphragm contracts and elevates, the lungs are compressed, decreasing their volume...and increasing the pressure of the gas within. This action results in air (containing carbon dioxide created during metabolic processes) being expelled from the lungs. Immediately after, the diaphragm relaxes and lowers, allowing the lungs to expand and increase their volume. This results in a decrease of gas pressure within the lungs, allowing air (containing oxygen needed for metabolic processes) to be inhaled.
Thank God we don't have to think about making that happen, right? Over and over and over, every second of every day, inhale, exhale. Thank God we have a portion of our brain dedicated to that mundane task as well as others of its ilk, like the heart beating.
But I digress.
My point is this: Boyle's Law was not the correct choice for the introduction of the student's essay. Perhaps the composer of the farce was familiar with Boyle's Law and thought its presence would lend some credence to the tale.
I'd be willing to wager that the majority of my students will remember that law, if only in part because of my in-class demonstration of it in action. The power of visual demonstrations!
So, which of the gas laws would be the better choice?
Well, I would recommend Charles' Law for that first part of the tale, when the speaker is talking of gas cooling as it expands. In other words, the talk was of temperature and volume. For Charles' Law, also known as the Law of Volumes, the premise can be stated thusly: for an ideal gas at constant pressure and constant amount of gas, changes in volume are directly related to changes in temperature. In short, as the temperature increases, the volume also increases.
However, a different law is needed for the second part of the emailed tale, the part which proposes to present the student's essay. There, the "student" writes that the "temperature and pressure...stay the same as the volume changes with the addition of souls. Boyle's Law is certainly NOT the correct choice, but Charles' Law would not fit this change of parameters, either.
No, the best choice would have been Avogadro's Law. If the temperature and pressure are both constant, then volume changes directly as the amount of ideal gas changes.
How does any of this relate to souls???
Well, if we assume that souls are spirits and behave comparably to ideal gases, then we can assume that Charles' Law and Avogadro's Law can be applied to the student's essay.
In accordance with Avogadro's Law, we have the number of departed souls (ideal gas molecules) increasing continually, leading to the continual expansion of the volume of Hell (vessel holding the gas). However, given the number of departed souls over the entire lifespan to date of Earth, we can assume that current change in number of souls is very small compared to the number of souls already in Hell, so the expansion can be regarded as very small at this point in time.
Likewise, if the volume of Hell is only nominally changing at this stage in the game, then the temperature and pressure would also only have slight variations as time proceeds and more departed souls enter. In other words, any decreases in pressure or increases in temperature for current increases in departed souls are fairly negligible.
Maybe the universe is Hell. We all know the universe is slowly and continually expanding. We all know that the space outside of our atmosphere is frightfully cold and basically a vacuum of constant pressure.
Perhaps space is Hell and the many stars are the departed souls...
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
got pickles?
No, not my car.
I was at home, with a jar of pickles that I could not open.
Mind you, this was not my first encounter with this stubborn jar.
Oh, no.
The jar and I had gone round and round for several months. I would have a hankering for a pickle and have another go at the jar and the jar would not yield. I would then put the jar back into the refrigerator, to await our next encounter.
I kept meaning to ask for assistance when folks would come by the house.
But, as it happened, the pickles would not come to mind when others were present.
Only when I was alone.
And so I went pickle-less, only thinking about the lack when I would spot the jar and want to have a pickle.
Today, I had decided to have a hamburger sandwich.
I know, for some folks, that's a fairly common lunch item.
Not for me.
I'm rather picky about burger meat.
In fact, this burger might not even be called a burger by some folks, as it contained no beef and was made from ground chicken.
But it was a burger to me and I had been thinking about eating a burger sandwich for a couple of days.
I had my mouth all set for it, you know what I mean?
And I wanted pickles with my burger.
So, I set myself to try to open that jar, one more time.
I ran hot water over the cap.
The cap would not turn.
I turned the jar upside-down, to break the vacuum seal, a trick I have used to good advantage on other jars.
The jar would not open.
I tapped the lid with a knife.
The lid still did not turn.
I put on my gardening gloves with the rubber beads on the palms and fingers.
The pickles remained trapped within the glass.
I even wnet onto the front porch to see if I could flag down someone with strong hands that might be passing by.
No one was there and my neighbors seemed to be gone.
By this time, I was getting angry. All I wanted was to have some pickles with my burger. That's all. That did not seem to be a great demand that I was making. I just wanted some dill pickles with my lunch.
Arrrgghhhh!!!!
Realizing that I was leaning toward the use of my hammer to break the jar, just to get some pickles, the thought occurred to me that I should send out an SOS to my first niece and her husband.
me: Help! I cannot open my jar of pickles! Seriously.
her: Lol. Jason gets off at 3, should I send him over?
me: Yes, please. I have waited for two months to eat these pickles.
me: I have two other jars I cannot open, too.
her: Ok, I will let him know.
me: Thank you so much!
him: I'm getting off work now. I should be there in just a few minutes.
me: Thank you! <3
And so he did.
By the time he arrived, I had five jars lined up on the counter for him.
The pickle jar took a little work, but he finally opened it.
The jar of olives opened fairly readily, too.
But the jar of banana pepper rings refused. He had to put on the gardening gloves and really put some muscle into it, but the cap finally yielded.
As did the previously opened jars of apple butter and mango jam, glued shut by their own sticky residue at their mouths.
Then he and I talked a little while and gave each other big hugs and he headed for home.
I had my burger sandwich... and at least five pickles.
At last!
Friday, November 15, 2013
rules for life
Written By Regina Brett, "90 years old *", of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to '91' in August (2009), so here is the column once more."
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20.. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22.. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23.. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39.. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
Just so you know, the woman is actually in her 50's. Somehow, somewhere along the line, somebody went to forward her list and mistakenly read her age as "90", not "50". Strange how things like that happen!
Wear your glasses, folks... I do!
Well... most of the time. :-)
Thursday, November 14, 2013
meatloaf in the house!
That time was now!
I couldn't actually lay my hands on my Velvety Meatloaf recipe, which I created and have used for years. So, I worked from memory.
I knew I would need about 1 pound (454 grams) of ground meat, raw.
I would also need 1 cup (about 250 milliliters) of barbeque sauce and 1 cup of stuffing mix (or bread crumbs).
I had the meat. I had the sauce.
I did not have the stuffing mix.
Well...I had lots of Canadian tri-color couscous, thanks to the DeKalb Farmers Market and the BFF.
I mean, lots. Three quarts or so.
So I used a cup of the Canadian couscous, uncooked.
I also had a half-bag of baby carrots needing to be used.
Fine. I can do that!
So, here is my creation: Carrot Upside-Down Meatloaf!
Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius).
In a large glass bowl, mix together the meat, couscous, and barbeque sauce. (This is best accomplished with your hands. This is also the worst part to me.)
Allow the mixture to relax while you wash the baby carrots, cut them into 1-inch (2.54-centimeter) lengths, and place them into the bottom of a glass meatloaf pan.
Now, transfer the meatloaf mixture into the meatloaf pan, on top of the carrots, and press into a smooth surface.
Cover loosely with aluminum foil, then cook in oven for one hour.
At that time, remove foil and cook another ten minutes.
Ta Da! All done!
Loosen the sides and invert onto a plate for a meatloaf that is not only tasty, but pretty!
Excellent!
I do hope I will remember this for future meals.
That's why I wrote it here!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
texting with the ex
Ever since Thursday, a lot of words have sped along in the ether between his phone in Michigan and mine here in Georgia. Especially this week. We have "spoken" every day for three days in a row.
His cousin's death has hit him the hardest of any of the others (his mom, our friend Jim Adams, our friend Sam Johnson, my stepbrother, and David's sweetheart) over the past decade.
I'm sure that is due to time and circumstances being different now. After all, he will be 49 years old next month.
He grew up in a small family.
He was raised as an only child by his divorced mom. She eventually had remarried, for a few years, adding two stepsisters to his life. He didn't know them well, as they were a bit older than him.
His dad went on to remarry and have several children, but my ex never knew them, never even knew of their existence until I had tracked down his dad almost ten years ago. (That was after my ex - still husband at the time - had the first two stents placed into his heart. I had wanted to get a more complete medical picture.)
I think his dad had two sisters, maybe three. I don't recall any brothers. At any rate, the ex did not grow up with them in his life, nor any children they may have had.
His mom only had one living sister. Through her, the ex grew up with two male cousins and one female cousin. Those were the only cousins he ever knew.
As I said, he had a small family.
I don't know if that increased the perceived impact of each death. I don't think so, but I don't know. Perhaps some studies have been done on the subject?
But he and David were close and had grown closer over the past six years. When the ex would come to Georgia to visit his elder daughter, he would also swing up to Tennessee on his return trip and spend some time with his cousin. It allowed him some time with family, with people who knew and loved him.
The other cousins and his aunt live in Minnesota and Virginia. Not exactly "on his way" for his travels from Michigan southward.
The loss of David is a huge hole in his heart.
The ex and I have remained close, as I've mentioned a time or two. That's a good thing for both of us. After all, we are still family, we still know and love each other.
So, the following are transcriptions of our conversations since Monday evening.
No, wait.
I'll include the one from last Thursday, too, when I'd lunched with his aunt and uncle here in town.
Thursday, Nov 7, 2013
(About 3:30 PM, after sending him two pictures taken during the lunch with his Aunt and Uncle.)
me: At Huey's on River Street.
ex: I didn't realize they were in Savannah!
me: Are in Hilton Head. Got there on Monday. We had a very nice lunch!
ex: I'm guessing they needed a break after Tennessee.
me: Yes. Very sad about David. {Auntie} Arlene is exhausted.
me: We talked very briefly about David and Chris {David's son}. Then we dropped the topic. Did you know that David was going to have to move out of the house?
me: I can understand why he may have felt there was no other option for him. Very sad.
ex: I didn't know that. Was that what the fight between him and Gwen's family was about?
me: Yes. There may have been other issues that I don't know. Arlene made it seem to have been a longer running thing. Could have just been since Gwen got cancer.
me: The question of what to do with the house would have been raised then.
me: The house was Gwen's and the land had been her mom's. Her mom wanted it back and wanted David out. Arlene was there cleaning it out for the bank to take it.
ex: What a mess. I've been saying that if something was enough to break even the devil-may-care David down, who are we to say that it wouldn't have done the same to us...
me: You are absolutely right. But you have to remember he was a sentimental man. The timing was all too hard.
me: David had arranged for a friend to come over at a specific time. Instead Chris came there unexpectedly and found him. Very sad.
ex: I'm betting I know which friend. They told me about him while I was there.
me: Arlene mentioned his name but I don't recall. She said David had evidently given it all some thought and wanted to not have family find him.
me: Instead Chris came home and found him. Then he ran down the street to the bank where Stephanie {David's daughter} was working and said "I think Dad has hurt himself."
ex: Already in shock. He couldn't bring himself to say what ultimately had happened. The best laid plans.
me: I know. One never knows what will happen. Neither of the kids wanted to go into the house so Arlene took care of cleaning it out.
me: Stephanie and Daniel had her over for dinner every night.
ex: I'm sure they did. Daniel's a nice guy.
me: That's what Auntie said. She really likes him.
ex: Even Goldie, the rescue dog they had, knew something bad was going on. She came and sat next to me on the couch straight away. Years of visits and I couldn't get her to do that.
me: Jeff I am so very sorry about David. I always liked him and I know he meant a lot to you.
ex: Thank you honey.
That was one of the most difficult conversations I've ever had. Oddly, texting the news instead of speaking it somehow made it more real, more solid. The power of the printed word, perhaps.
Now on to this week's word exchanges.
Monday, 11 Nov 2013
(The ex had contacted me earlier, texting about Earl Grey tea and tomato soup, then I had to go to work. This is the resumption of the talk, about 9 PM.)
me: Okay all done with lab. Yeah!
ex: We had our first snow today. As you may guess, I'm not very happy.
ex: it was 41 this morning and the temperature slowly dropped all day. We bottom out at 26 tonight.
me: Much
me: Ouch
me: Damn phone.
me: Has been very cold at night here too. Will be in thirties on Wednesday.
ex: Hot tea and extra blankets tonight.
me: Yeah me too. At least you are not living in a tent in the woods. That is what Ronnie is doing.
me: My heat is not working so I have a space heater in the living room. Blocked off the sunroom and guest room so that helped. I hope next week is warm.
me: I am glad that I have a heated mattress pad. Could not live without it.
ex: He's still doing that?
me: Oh yeah. No rules but his.
ex: I have no idea what to say to that. But you're right.
me: I know. I called him today to check in and he complained about the cold but didn't say he needed anything. So I didn't offer.
ex: I think that was the correct card to play.
me: I knew it was. If I offer but he didn't ask then he regards it as free.
Tuesday, 12 Nov 2013
(The next morning, the conversation resumed about 8:30 AM and went for an hour.)
ex: I didn't see that your heat wasn't working because I was still incredulous over your running comment. How have you blocked off the sunroom since it's open space? Is John not there, that you were able to block off the guest room?
me: Joe (the peace Guy) moved to Atlanta in early August. As for the sunroom, I hung a sheet between it and the kitchen. Seems to work well.
ex: If it works, it works. By the way, your low last night will be our high today.
me: That sucks. Our high tomorrow is in the fifties. That really sucks.
ex: Here, that would be pleasant. Hell, more than pleasant. Unseasonably warm.
me: And THAT is why I don't ever want to live at that latitude.
ex: I'm sure my blood is getting thicker. I just won't ever get it used to the idea.
me: That makes it a matter over mind thing. Lol.
ex: Lottery hasn't been any kinder to me in Michigan that it was in Georgia. At least I'm no longer throwing away hundreds of dollars at a time (casino).
me: I keep trying with Publishers Clearing House. No luck so far. :)
ex: Oh how priorities change. I used to want to make great spots. Now I just walk on eggshells, capitulating to every whim (however stupid) of the sales people, just so I can crawl to my 5 year mark. The last time I had three weeks vacation per year, I was in the service.
me: Five year mark?
ex: The dream is in sight. Rather than take a week at a time, I'll just dot the calendar with the three- and four-day weekends all year.
me: Nice. That tends to be what I do.
ex: Yes, I've been at MacDonald Broadcasting for 3 years now. September.
ex: And why not? There are so many things to see and do in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Grand Rapids. Toledo. Indianapolis. Chicago. Cinci. Cleveland. And now that Bob's in Des Moines, I foresee a long drunk weekend in the immediate future.
me: Not what I meant. Do you get tenure or something at five years?
ex: I don't think it's thought of as a tenure thing in our business; it's more just a perk and thank you for helping keep the company stable.
ex: It's never been something I thought of because I never came close to five years at a radio station before.
me: So what do you get at five years? Just more vacation?
ex: Probably. It would be nice if I got a raise. Honestly, though, I make enough. I'd rather have more time than more money. Very soon D {his younger daughter} turns 18 and that will be an extra knot in my pocket every month.
ex: Although my BlueCross just jumped up...so not as big a knot as I had hoped.
me: Yeah that will be February. You won't need to pay for medical insurance on her either.
ex: Au contraire! Obamacare will make me carry her until age 26. And I want to. She's going to need every bit of help she can get...and that help will be expensive.
me: Heard. Good of you to take care of her like that.
ex: That's another reason I keep my head down, keep my mouth shut and do my work.
me: You keep trying. That is good.
ex: I'm trying to straighten things out. The boulder is at the bottom of the hill every day.
me: Think of those hills as in succession, not the SAME hill.
ex: I could have it worse. I could be living in a tent, freezing my ass off in a sleeping bag. And not by choice.
me: He has been like this for years now. He counts on the holiday spirit to make folks more generous toward him. It is very tiring.
ex: How serendipitous that the holidays come at a time when the weather turns bad and someone like him needs help the most.
ex: Wow! Looks professionally done!
me: Thanks! Sam does that at her house to block off the upstairs. She only heats the downstairs. Has heated mattress pads on all beds.
me: As for Ronnie, yes. He may not believe in Christmas but he knows the rest of us do.
ex: I didn't word that well. I didn't mean to imply that he works that happenstance...even though, deep down, we know he does.
me: Oh yes. He most certainly does. He times it on purpose. He gets tired of working and this is his way of getting others to take care of him.
me: I have confronted him about it and he doesn't deny it.
me: I pay for him to have a phone every month. Just as I have ever since his TIA. That way he can call for help if he needs it.
ex: Well, I admire the fact that he admits it. That means he's true to his belief. However, it's not very smart. Knowing he's an unrepentant freeloader gives me all the reason I need to not enable him.
me: Smitty is of that mind. Throws him some work from time to time but gives him nothing.
Wednesday, 13 Nov 2013
(Out of the blue, after 10 PM.)
ex: The picture of David and Gwen...where is that from, again?
ex: ...and when?
me: 5 July, 2009, at Nags Head. It was the K&k family reunion.
ex: I'm kicking myself for not having gotten photos with them in 2010, when they visited Mary and me in Birmingham. We were at this cute little place caleed the Bottle Tree Cafe but the lighting indoors was too low for pictures.
me: Didn't you send me a photo of that place? By email. I may still have it.
ex: I still have all the photos I took of the decor and the sign with the actual sculpture. Not one of me or my family.
me: Auntie said they took video at the reunion in Minnesota this summer.
ex: Yeah, they talked about that last month.
me: Maybe they will post it online.
ex: I'm taking old photos on my phone and cataloguing them on the computer.
ex: I don't know how much more I can take this.
me: Pardon? Want to talk?
ex: It's alright, but thank you...it's late. I'm going to brush my teeth and go to bed.
me: Love you, Jeff. I am here if you want to talk.
ex: Thank you. I love you too.
me: I took a lot of photos. Will send you the links. I even have a few from that trip to Virginia Beach. That was definitely a fun day.
ex: That trip where we were putting out so much radiation that we could bake a potato in our hands?
me: Yes that's the one!
ex: F&k. It hurt to sit it hurt to stand it hurt to move...It hurt to BE.
me: :-)
me: Just sent the link for the VA Beach pics.
me: Be sure to wear your sunglasses!
ex: I didn't mention that last Thursday, Living Colour was in Flint on a tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their first album. They played it in its entirety.
ex: They played Walk on The Wild Side since Lou Reed just passed. They played Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash as the last song. The chorus was played at thrash metal speed.
me: TOTALLY awesome!
Then, on that up-note, we signed off. I bounced over to facebook, to raid my albums there for signs of life.
I found them.
I had five albums with David in them.
I sat there and cried, remembering how much fun he was to be around, feeling the void in the world.
Very sad.
I sent links to the albums to the ex, to the cousins, to the daughter.
And I went to bed.
His cousin's death has hit him the hardest of any of the others (his mom, our friend Jim Adams, our friend Sam Johnson, my stepbrother, and David's sweetheart) over the past decade.
I'm sure that is due to time and circumstances being different now. After all, he will be 49 years old next month.
He grew up in a small family.
He was raised as an only child by his divorced mom. She eventually had remarried, for a few years, adding two stepsisters to his life. He didn't know them well, as they were a bit older than him.
His dad went on to remarry and have several children, but my ex never knew them, never even knew of their existence until I had tracked down his dad almost ten years ago. (That was after my ex - still husband at the time - had the first two stents placed into his heart. I had wanted to get a more complete medical picture.)
I think his dad had two sisters, maybe three. I don't recall any brothers. At any rate, the ex did not grow up with them in his life, nor any children they may have had.
His mom only had one living sister. Through her, the ex grew up with two male cousins and one female cousin. Those were the only cousins he ever knew.
As I said, he had a small family.
I don't know if that increased the perceived impact of each death. I don't think so, but I don't know. Perhaps some studies have been done on the subject?
But he and David were close and had grown closer over the past six years. When the ex would come to Georgia to visit his elder daughter, he would also swing up to Tennessee on his return trip and spend some time with his cousin. It allowed him some time with family, with people who knew and loved him.
The other cousins and his aunt live in Minnesota and Virginia. Not exactly "on his way" for his travels from Michigan southward.
The loss of David is a huge hole in his heart.
The ex and I have remained close, as I've mentioned a time or two. That's a good thing for both of us. After all, we are still family, we still know and love each other.
So, the following are transcriptions of our conversations since Monday evening.
No, wait.
I'll include the one from last Thursday, too, when I'd lunched with his aunt and uncle here in town.
Thursday, Nov 7, 2013
(About 3:30 PM, after sending him two pictures taken during the lunch with his Aunt and Uncle.)
me: At Huey's on River Street.
ex: I didn't realize they were in Savannah!
me: Are in Hilton Head. Got there on Monday. We had a very nice lunch!
ex: I'm guessing they needed a break after Tennessee.
me: Yes. Very sad about David. {Auntie} Arlene is exhausted.
me: We talked very briefly about David and Chris {David's son}. Then we dropped the topic. Did you know that David was going to have to move out of the house?
me: I can understand why he may have felt there was no other option for him. Very sad.
ex: I didn't know that. Was that what the fight between him and Gwen's family was about?
me: Yes. There may have been other issues that I don't know. Arlene made it seem to have been a longer running thing. Could have just been since Gwen got cancer.
me: The question of what to do with the house would have been raised then.
me: The house was Gwen's and the land had been her mom's. Her mom wanted it back and wanted David out. Arlene was there cleaning it out for the bank to take it.
ex: What a mess. I've been saying that if something was enough to break even the devil-may-care David down, who are we to say that it wouldn't have done the same to us...
me: You are absolutely right. But you have to remember he was a sentimental man. The timing was all too hard.
me: David had arranged for a friend to come over at a specific time. Instead Chris came there unexpectedly and found him. Very sad.
ex: I'm betting I know which friend. They told me about him while I was there.
me: Arlene mentioned his name but I don't recall. She said David had evidently given it all some thought and wanted to not have family find him.
me: Instead Chris came home and found him. Then he ran down the street to the bank where Stephanie {David's daughter} was working and said "I think Dad has hurt himself."
ex: Already in shock. He couldn't bring himself to say what ultimately had happened. The best laid plans.
me: I know. One never knows what will happen. Neither of the kids wanted to go into the house so Arlene took care of cleaning it out.
me: Stephanie and Daniel had her over for dinner every night.
ex: I'm sure they did. Daniel's a nice guy.
me: That's what Auntie said. She really likes him.
ex: Even Goldie, the rescue dog they had, knew something bad was going on. She came and sat next to me on the couch straight away. Years of visits and I couldn't get her to do that.
me: Jeff I am so very sorry about David. I always liked him and I know he meant a lot to you.
ex: Thank you honey.
That was one of the most difficult conversations I've ever had. Oddly, texting the news instead of speaking it somehow made it more real, more solid. The power of the printed word, perhaps.
Now on to this week's word exchanges.
Monday, 11 Nov 2013
(The ex had contacted me earlier, texting about Earl Grey tea and tomato soup, then I had to go to work. This is the resumption of the talk, about 9 PM.)
me: Okay all done with lab. Yeah!
ex: We had our first snow today. As you may guess, I'm not very happy.
ex: it was 41 this morning and the temperature slowly dropped all day. We bottom out at 26 tonight.
me: Much
me: Ouch
me: Damn phone.
me: Has been very cold at night here too. Will be in thirties on Wednesday.
ex: Hot tea and extra blankets tonight.
me: Yeah me too. At least you are not living in a tent in the woods. That is what Ronnie is doing.
me: My heat is not working so I have a space heater in the living room. Blocked off the sunroom and guest room so that helped. I hope next week is warm.
me: I am glad that I have a heated mattress pad. Could not live without it.
ex: He's still doing that?
me: Oh yeah. No rules but his.
ex: I have no idea what to say to that. But you're right.
me: I know. I called him today to check in and he complained about the cold but didn't say he needed anything. So I didn't offer.
ex: I think that was the correct card to play.
me: I knew it was. If I offer but he didn't ask then he regards it as free.
Tuesday, 12 Nov 2013
(The next morning, the conversation resumed about 8:30 AM and went for an hour.)
ex: I didn't see that your heat wasn't working because I was still incredulous over your running comment. How have you blocked off the sunroom since it's open space? Is John not there, that you were able to block off the guest room?
me: Joe (the peace Guy) moved to Atlanta in early August. As for the sunroom, I hung a sheet between it and the kitchen. Seems to work well.
ex: If it works, it works. By the way, your low last night will be our high today.
me: That sucks. Our high tomorrow is in the fifties. That really sucks.
ex: Here, that would be pleasant. Hell, more than pleasant. Unseasonably warm.
me: And THAT is why I don't ever want to live at that latitude.
ex: I'm sure my blood is getting thicker. I just won't ever get it used to the idea.
me: That makes it a matter over mind thing. Lol.
ex: Lottery hasn't been any kinder to me in Michigan that it was in Georgia. At least I'm no longer throwing away hundreds of dollars at a time (casino).
me: I keep trying with Publishers Clearing House. No luck so far. :)
ex: Oh how priorities change. I used to want to make great spots. Now I just walk on eggshells, capitulating to every whim (however stupid) of the sales people, just so I can crawl to my 5 year mark. The last time I had three weeks vacation per year, I was in the service.
me: Five year mark?
ex: The dream is in sight. Rather than take a week at a time, I'll just dot the calendar with the three- and four-day weekends all year.
me: Nice. That tends to be what I do.
ex: Yes, I've been at MacDonald Broadcasting for 3 years now. September.
ex: And why not? There are so many things to see and do in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Grand Rapids. Toledo. Indianapolis. Chicago. Cinci. Cleveland. And now that Bob's in Des Moines, I foresee a long drunk weekend in the immediate future.
me: Not what I meant. Do you get tenure or something at five years?
ex: I don't think it's thought of as a tenure thing in our business; it's more just a perk and thank you for helping keep the company stable.
ex: It's never been something I thought of because I never came close to five years at a radio station before.
me: So what do you get at five years? Just more vacation?
ex: Probably. It would be nice if I got a raise. Honestly, though, I make enough. I'd rather have more time than more money. Very soon D {his younger daughter} turns 18 and that will be an extra knot in my pocket every month.
ex: Although my BlueCross just jumped up...so not as big a knot as I had hoped.
me: Yeah that will be February. You won't need to pay for medical insurance on her either.
ex: Au contraire! Obamacare will make me carry her until age 26. And I want to. She's going to need every bit of help she can get...and that help will be expensive.
me: Heard. Good of you to take care of her like that.
ex: That's another reason I keep my head down, keep my mouth shut and do my work.
me: You keep trying. That is good.
ex: I'm trying to straighten things out. The boulder is at the bottom of the hill every day.
me: Think of those hills as in succession, not the SAME hill.
ex: I could have it worse. I could be living in a tent, freezing my ass off in a sleeping bag. And not by choice.
me: He has been like this for years now. He counts on the holiday spirit to make folks more generous toward him. It is very tiring.
ex: How serendipitous that the holidays come at a time when the weather turns bad and someone like him needs help the most.
me: Thanks! Sam does that at her house to block off the upstairs. She only heats the downstairs. Has heated mattress pads on all beds.
me: As for Ronnie, yes. He may not believe in Christmas but he knows the rest of us do.
ex: I didn't word that well. I didn't mean to imply that he works that happenstance...even though, deep down, we know he does.
me: Oh yes. He most certainly does. He times it on purpose. He gets tired of working and this is his way of getting others to take care of him.
me: I have confronted him about it and he doesn't deny it.
me: I pay for him to have a phone every month. Just as I have ever since his TIA. That way he can call for help if he needs it.
ex: Well, I admire the fact that he admits it. That means he's true to his belief. However, it's not very smart. Knowing he's an unrepentant freeloader gives me all the reason I need to not enable him.
me: Smitty is of that mind. Throws him some work from time to time but gives him nothing.
Wednesday, 13 Nov 2013
(Out of the blue, after 10 PM.)
ex: The picture of David and Gwen...where is that from, again?
ex: ...and when?
me: 5 July, 2009, at Nags Head. It was the K&k family reunion.
ex: I'm kicking myself for not having gotten photos with them in 2010, when they visited Mary and me in Birmingham. We were at this cute little place caleed the Bottle Tree Cafe but the lighting indoors was too low for pictures.
me: Didn't you send me a photo of that place? By email. I may still have it.
ex: I still have all the photos I took of the decor and the sign with the actual sculpture. Not one of me or my family.
me: Auntie said they took video at the reunion in Minnesota this summer.
ex: Yeah, they talked about that last month.
me: Maybe they will post it online.
ex: I'm taking old photos on my phone and cataloguing them on the computer.
ex: I don't know how much more I can take this.
me: Pardon? Want to talk?
ex: It's alright, but thank you...it's late. I'm going to brush my teeth and go to bed.
me: Love you, Jeff. I am here if you want to talk.
ex: Thank you. I love you too.
me: I took a lot of photos. Will send you the links. I even have a few from that trip to Virginia Beach. That was definitely a fun day.
ex: That trip where we were putting out so much radiation that we could bake a potato in our hands?
me: Yes that's the one!
ex: F&k. It hurt to sit it hurt to stand it hurt to move...It hurt to BE.
me: :-)
me: Just sent the link for the VA Beach pics.
me: Be sure to wear your sunglasses!
ex: I didn't mention that last Thursday, Living Colour was in Flint on a tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their first album. They played it in its entirety.
me: TOTALLY awesome!
Then, on that up-note, we signed off. I bounced over to facebook, to raid my albums there for signs of life.
I found them.
I had five albums with David in them.
I sat there and cried, remembering how much fun he was to be around, feeling the void in the world.
Very sad.
I sent links to the albums to the ex, to the cousins, to the daughter.
And I went to bed.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
closed until spring
Yesterday, I closed off the sunroom. No more cold air streaming from that corner of the house and permeating every other space.
I also closed the door to the guest room. The peace Guy is gone, away in ATL with a new love, and I doubt he will return anytime soon. I closed off the vent in that room, too. No sense in paying to heat that area when no one will be in there.
Closing off the guest room didn't bother me, though. I simply shut the door. That was much as Joe had done, when he thought the room was too messy for view. That was not anything new to me.
But closing off the sunroom... that is another story all together.
No more bright and cheery sun-yellow walls to look at while I wait for the coffee to percolate.
No more enjoyment of that space for morning breakfasts.
No more artificial enhancement of the size of my kitchen.
I shall miss this room.
I missed it this morning. Even though the sheet is a light blue-green and has pretty flowers on it and allows much of the light through, it is a reminder that winter is here.
But spring will come... and I will anticpate that delight.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
trudy's eyes
I think I may have mentioned a time or two that I'm a fan of Tony Shalhoub's character, Adrian Monk. Yes? Surely I have. He's a detective, formerly on the police force, but serves now as a consultant ever since the death of his beloved wife, Trudy.
Monk has a lot of quirks.
A lot of quirks.
Most people are willing to overlook those quirks, as he is so talented.
He has an assistant to help keep him stable, and to run interference for him, while he is solving murder cases.
The episode I just watched, "Mr. Monk Is Up All Night", was a bit different from the usual ones in the series. Amazingly, it also was one I did not recall ever seeing before.
Here's what happened (as Monk would say): He and his assistant are walking along in their hometown of San Francisco, just diddy-bopping along, and he gets bumped by a woman passing by. They all stop, she apologizes, and ... Monk feels compelled to follow her. He loses her in the traffic and the crowd. When his trusty assistant asks why? Did you know her? What's going on?, he has to tell her that he doesn't know why, that he has never seen the woman before, that he simply felt he had to follow her.
The man has a photographic memory. If he says he's never seen someone before, you can bet good money that he has never seen them before.
Odd, right?
So, I watched.
His not understanding his own actions keeps him awake at night. He calls his assistant and she suggests he take a walk, which he does.
There's a great scene where he is walking by a row of late-night businesses. As he approaches each one on the block, its lights are turned out, leaving him in the dark.
Get it?
Fabulous visualization.
So, a little later, a taxi pulls up beside him and the driver, a woman, asks if he needs a ride. He leans down to look into the passenger-side window, saying as he does so, "no, thank you" - and recognizes the driver as the woman he had been following earlier! But, too late! She is already pulling away before he can try to stop her. Oh, no!
And the chase continues throughout the show. (Another storyline is also unwinding as he deals with his dilemma, but you'll have to watch the episode yourself for that one.)
Meanwhile, all who know him are also mystified with his obsession with this unknown woman. Is he in love with her? Does he know her after all, but has forgotten her somehow? Is his famous memory having a lapse?
At last, they meet. What is it about her face that so attracts and distracts him? Wait, not her entire face - no, her eyes. There is something about her eyes...
Her eyes? She tells him of the birth defect that had left her blind until just a few years ago, of the transplant she had received, like a miracle, from a woman who had just died. And when she tells him the date, he echoes it back to her. It was the date his beloved Trudy had been killed by a car bomb. The eyes were Trudy's eyes.
And the woman is crying and he touches her tears, oh so softly, with his fingertips. This man who has a phobia about touching anything is trying to make contact with his dead wife through the tears coming from her eyes in a stranger's face.
And he leans forward and touches his forehead to hers.
And the woman says, as she sobs, "oh, I am so sorry, I am so sorry."
And the show ends with them standing just like that, heads touching, shoulders bowed, as the light goes to dusk on the street.
It was a very emotional moment for us all: Monk, the woman, and me.
I've always been a proponent of organ donation. I'm an organ donor and have been ever since my teen years. I guess it goes along with my "reduce, reuse, recycle" mentality and my altruism and general attempts to make this world a better place, one starfish at a time.
After all, parts are parts. Once the soul has left the building, so to speak, then the building can be dismantled and used for new construction. Anything which will help someone's mother or dad or loved one to live longer is a good thing, right?
But I must admit I haven't ever given any thought to the possible effect on family members of donors. After all, most transplants occur deep below skin level: hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys. No possibility of recognition of a dear departed loved one's internal organs should one happen upon the recipient on the street, now is there?
No.
However, what about the living who receive skin grafts or corneal transplants, as in this episode? What might be the chances that a family member of that donor might recognize the placement of a mole, a shading of skin tone, the reflection of light upon the eyes? What then?
I'm sure the issue doesn't arise often, if ever, in the real world.
The real world is not populated by a vast majority of people with eidetic memories.
Monk has such a memory and was able to recognize the corneas of his dead wife.
But, as my ex was fond of saying, Monk is a "poor little fictional character".
Still, it does give one pause, n'est-ce pas?
Monk has a lot of quirks.
A lot of quirks.
Most people are willing to overlook those quirks, as he is so talented.
He has an assistant to help keep him stable, and to run interference for him, while he is solving murder cases.
The episode I just watched, "Mr. Monk Is Up All Night", was a bit different from the usual ones in the series. Amazingly, it also was one I did not recall ever seeing before.
Here's what happened (as Monk would say): He and his assistant are walking along in their hometown of San Francisco, just diddy-bopping along, and he gets bumped by a woman passing by. They all stop, she apologizes, and ... Monk feels compelled to follow her. He loses her in the traffic and the crowd. When his trusty assistant asks why? Did you know her? What's going on?, he has to tell her that he doesn't know why, that he has never seen the woman before, that he simply felt he had to follow her.
The man has a photographic memory. If he says he's never seen someone before, you can bet good money that he has never seen them before.
Odd, right?
So, I watched.
His not understanding his own actions keeps him awake at night. He calls his assistant and she suggests he take a walk, which he does.
There's a great scene where he is walking by a row of late-night businesses. As he approaches each one on the block, its lights are turned out, leaving him in the dark.
Get it?
Fabulous visualization.
So, a little later, a taxi pulls up beside him and the driver, a woman, asks if he needs a ride. He leans down to look into the passenger-side window, saying as he does so, "no, thank you" - and recognizes the driver as the woman he had been following earlier! But, too late! She is already pulling away before he can try to stop her. Oh, no!
And the chase continues throughout the show. (Another storyline is also unwinding as he deals with his dilemma, but you'll have to watch the episode yourself for that one.)
Meanwhile, all who know him are also mystified with his obsession with this unknown woman. Is he in love with her? Does he know her after all, but has forgotten her somehow? Is his famous memory having a lapse?
At last, they meet. What is it about her face that so attracts and distracts him? Wait, not her entire face - no, her eyes. There is something about her eyes...
Her eyes? She tells him of the birth defect that had left her blind until just a few years ago, of the transplant she had received, like a miracle, from a woman who had just died. And when she tells him the date, he echoes it back to her. It was the date his beloved Trudy had been killed by a car bomb. The eyes were Trudy's eyes.
And the woman is crying and he touches her tears, oh so softly, with his fingertips. This man who has a phobia about touching anything is trying to make contact with his dead wife through the tears coming from her eyes in a stranger's face.
And he leans forward and touches his forehead to hers.
And the woman says, as she sobs, "oh, I am so sorry, I am so sorry."
And the show ends with them standing just like that, heads touching, shoulders bowed, as the light goes to dusk on the street.
It was a very emotional moment for us all: Monk, the woman, and me.
I've always been a proponent of organ donation. I'm an organ donor and have been ever since my teen years. I guess it goes along with my "reduce, reuse, recycle" mentality and my altruism and general attempts to make this world a better place, one starfish at a time.
After all, parts are parts. Once the soul has left the building, so to speak, then the building can be dismantled and used for new construction. Anything which will help someone's mother or dad or loved one to live longer is a good thing, right?
But I must admit I haven't ever given any thought to the possible effect on family members of donors. After all, most transplants occur deep below skin level: hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys. No possibility of recognition of a dear departed loved one's internal organs should one happen upon the recipient on the street, now is there?
No.
However, what about the living who receive skin grafts or corneal transplants, as in this episode? What might be the chances that a family member of that donor might recognize the placement of a mole, a shading of skin tone, the reflection of light upon the eyes? What then?
I'm sure the issue doesn't arise often, if ever, in the real world.
The real world is not populated by a vast majority of people with eidetic memories.
Monk has such a memory and was able to recognize the corneas of his dead wife.
But, as my ex was fond of saying, Monk is a "poor little fictional character".
Still, it does give one pause, n'est-ce pas?
Saturday, November 9, 2013
of owls and Superman's cape
Today has been wonderful!
Starting at 1 PM, I had the first of two baby showers on this sunshine-filled Saturday. Wonderful! This was for another of the young women from my adventure in Italy in May of 2012 and was being held in the heart of downtown, at the bright space known as Ort Hall.
Wait!
Wasn't this the day of that Rock 'n' Roll Marathon???
Oh, no!
How to get downtown with so many roads blocked for the race?
Don't you fret, child. The nice folks that are in charge of the race have already given that some thought, this being the third year of the event in our fair city. All I had to do was contact them and they wrote back with explicit directions that were completely hassle-free. I was able to get there in my usual time - and I still saw a few runners on the way, too!
In honor the "Mommy to BEE", the theme was pollinators. You know - bees! Tiny pots of honey were at each place setting and pale yellow abounded. Very cute!
I was not the only traveler there, either. Including the soon-to-bee mom, there were five of us who had gone to Siena and Roma together. Que bella! We grabbed a table and sat together for the meal, catching up and reminiscing. So very nice!
Then we dined on crustless sandwich rounds with egg salad or pimiento cheese, fried chicken tenders with honey mustard, tiny chicken salad-filled pie crusts, cheeses and honeydew and red grapes...oh, my! I had the egg salad on all three types of bread! Then we played some games. How many honeycomb cereal pieces in the jar? (I was almost 150 too few.) Match the animals to their babies. (I missed sharks, giraffes, and alpacas.) What's in your purse? (Well, I only had 39 points and the winner had over 60!) And, baby bingo, were you fill the squares with the items you think the mom will get. I listed the three items I brought, of course!
I also learned along the way that the mom likes owls! Nice!
Now to remember that Scarlett is going to have lots of elephants, too.
Oh, my!
3:30 already???
Where did the time go?
Time to say our goodbyes and get our hugs on the way to the door.
Time, also, for our parting gifts, to remember the gathering fondly as we spread the pot of honey on our toast and savor the Bit-o-Honey candies.
Sweet!
And off I went to the east side of downtown for another baby shower! Woohoo!
This was for the daughter of a friend and niece of a dear friend, the late Sam Johnson. I wasn't expecting to know many folks there - and I didn't - but I sat with some lively women and we had such a good time!
These were very different games at this "jack and jill" party. For one, we were given a nursery rhyme and told to perform it - so Rosa and I rapped out "Humpty Dumpty" while Von gave us a beat! The daddy-to-be loved it! Sadly, we didn't win because we had not worked the baby's name into our performance. Drats - we were so busy planning that we didn't listen to all of the rules!
One game that I thought was awesome was this: each of the eight tables were given three pages, each with a single letter of the alphabet. We were given an array of colored pencils and tasked with drawing on the pages with appropriate pictures for the letter on the page. We were constructing Joshua's first Alphabet Book!!! isn't that an fabulous idea?
We had the letters "Dd", "Ee", and "Ff". They let me take over the "Ff" page and I drew a very colorful fish and a swirly concoction I call a Flower. They convinced me that I could draw an eagle and I made sure it was bald-headed when I colored it in. I cannot imagine why I didn't take photos of our pages, with their doughnuts and ears and eggs and dogs!
Next: the presents!
When she looked around for me after reading the card, I just had to bounce up there. I took the red plastic (which had wrapped the diapers in the stroller) and "pinned" it to my shoulders, just as the boy had done in the movie this summer.
She understood the meaning of the cape right away! I am sure she will share her love of her uncle with her son.
Then, the food! Very tasty chicken, baked, fried, and spicy wings! Flavorful saffron rice and cheesy scalloped potatoes! Corn, broccoli - even seafood pasta! And the cake was the BEST I've ever had, rich and buttery! I wouldn't have minded having a couple more slices of that!
Then we all realized the time:
6:30 PM! Oh, wow!
How the time flew!
Again time for goodbye hugs to friends new and old.
Time to receive little goodie bags of sweets for the sweet - nice!
I was even able to pack a plate of chicken and meatballs and saffron rice to go!
(The chicken was eaten before I even began this post, but the rest will wait for breakfast tomorrow.)
All so very much fun, but a little tiring. Maybe two baby showers in one afternoon and evening is a bit much - nah! I blame the flu shot on Thursday night. I do.
Still, I didn't go straight home. One last venture with friends, this time to see "Prince Avalanche" at Muse Arts. Definitely a guy film! I enjoyed the antics of these two fellows, out in the woods with only each other for company. The girlfriends I was with didn't appreciate it as much, but they don't have three younger brothers, either. Their loss!
Now to wind down and maybe call it an early night...
Starting at 1 PM, I had the first of two baby showers on this sunshine-filled Saturday. Wonderful! This was for another of the young women from my adventure in Italy in May of 2012 and was being held in the heart of downtown, at the bright space known as Ort Hall.
Wasn't this the day of that Rock 'n' Roll Marathon???
Oh, no!
How to get downtown with so many roads blocked for the race?
Don't you fret, child. The nice folks that are in charge of the race have already given that some thought, this being the third year of the event in our fair city. All I had to do was contact them and they wrote back with explicit directions that were completely hassle-free. I was able to get there in my usual time - and I still saw a few runners on the way, too!
I was not the only traveler there, either. Including the soon-to-bee mom, there were five of us who had gone to Siena and Roma together. Que bella! We grabbed a table and sat together for the meal, catching up and reminiscing. So very nice!
I also learned along the way that the mom likes owls! Nice!
Now to remember that Scarlett is going to have lots of elephants, too.
3:30 already???
Where did the time go?
Time to say our goodbyes and get our hugs on the way to the door.
Time, also, for our parting gifts, to remember the gathering fondly as we spread the pot of honey on our toast and savor the Bit-o-Honey candies.
Sweet!
And off I went to the east side of downtown for another baby shower! Woohoo!
This was for the daughter of a friend and niece of a dear friend, the late Sam Johnson. I wasn't expecting to know many folks there - and I didn't - but I sat with some lively women and we had such a good time!
One game that I thought was awesome was this: each of the eight tables were given three pages, each with a single letter of the alphabet. We were given an array of colored pencils and tasked with drawing on the pages with appropriate pictures for the letter on the page. We were constructing Joshua's first Alphabet Book!!! isn't that an fabulous idea?
When she looked around for me after reading the card, I just had to bounce up there. I took the red plastic (which had wrapped the diapers in the stroller) and "pinned" it to my shoulders, just as the boy had done in the movie this summer.
She understood the meaning of the cape right away! I am sure she will share her love of her uncle with her son.
Then, the food! Very tasty chicken, baked, fried, and spicy wings! Flavorful saffron rice and cheesy scalloped potatoes! Corn, broccoli - even seafood pasta! And the cake was the BEST I've ever had, rich and buttery! I wouldn't have minded having a couple more slices of that!
6:30 PM! Oh, wow!
How the time flew!
Again time for goodbye hugs to friends new and old.
Time to receive little goodie bags of sweets for the sweet - nice!
I was even able to pack a plate of chicken and meatballs and saffron rice to go!
(The chicken was eaten before I even began this post, but the rest will wait for breakfast tomorrow.)
All so very much fun, but a little tiring. Maybe two baby showers in one afternoon and evening is a bit much - nah! I blame the flu shot on Thursday night. I do.
Still, I didn't go straight home. One last venture with friends, this time to see "Prince Avalanche" at Muse Arts. Definitely a guy film! I enjoyed the antics of these two fellows, out in the woods with only each other for company. The girlfriends I was with didn't appreciate it as much, but they don't have three younger brothers, either. Their loss!
Now to wind down and maybe call it an early night...
Friday, November 8, 2013
... and YOU are the Grand Winner!
Imagine that you had won the following PRIZE in a contest:
Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400.00 in your private account for your use. However, this prize has rules.
The set of rules:
1. Everything that you didn't spend during each day would be taken away from you.
2. You may not simply transfer money into some other account.
3. You may only spend it.
4. Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400.00 for that day.
5. The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say, “ Game Over!" It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.
What would you do?
You would buy anything and everything you wanted, right?
Not only for yourself, but for all of the people you love. Even for people you don't know, because you couldn't possibly spend it all on yourself, right?
You would try to spend every cent, and use it all, right?
ACTUALLY This GAME is REAL!
Shocked?? YES!!
Each of us is already a winner of this PRIZE. We just can't seem to see it.
This PRIZE is *TIME* !!
1. Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life,
2. And when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is NOT credited to us.
3. What we haven't lived up that day is forever lost.
4. Yesterday is forever gone.
5. Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time without warning...
So, what will you do with your 86,400 seconds?
Those seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars.
Think about that, and always think of this:
Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think.
Take care of yourself, be happy, love deeply, and enjoy life!
Here's wishing you a wonderful and beautiful day.
Start spending...
********************************************************
This was shared with me today by my friend, author of MAGGIE: A SAVANNAH DOG.
I have no idea who wrote the above piece about time.
Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400.00 in your private account for your use. However, this prize has rules.
The set of rules:
1. Everything that you didn't spend during each day would be taken away from you.
2. You may not simply transfer money into some other account.
3. You may only spend it.
4. Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400.00 for that day.
5. The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say, “ Game Over!" It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.
What would you do?
You would buy anything and everything you wanted, right?
Not only for yourself, but for all of the people you love. Even for people you don't know, because you couldn't possibly spend it all on yourself, right?
You would try to spend every cent, and use it all, right?
ACTUALLY This GAME is REAL!
Shocked?? YES!!
Each of us is already a winner of this PRIZE. We just can't seem to see it.
This PRIZE is *TIME* !!
1. Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life,
2. And when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is NOT credited to us.
3. What we haven't lived up that day is forever lost.
4. Yesterday is forever gone.
5. Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time without warning...
So, what will you do with your 86,400 seconds?
Those seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars.
Think about that, and always think of this:
Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think.
Take care of yourself, be happy, love deeply, and enjoy life!
Here's wishing you a wonderful and beautiful day.
Start spending...
********************************************************
This was shared with me today by my friend, author of MAGGIE: A SAVANNAH DOG.
I have no idea who wrote the above piece about time.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
brunch on a Thursday
This has been a good day.
That bears repeating.
This has been a good day.
Today, I had a wonderful brunch with my Auntie and Uncle, on my ex's side. They really enjoy Huey's and had come from Hilton Head, where they are taking a respite from events of the past month.
What events?
Well, first and foremost, the unforeseen death of their first-born son at only 54 years old.
The travel from Virginia to Tennessee to make arrangements for his funeral.
The burial.
Then the emptying of his house, a process which fell squarely on Auntie's shoulders and took three weeks.
Very sad.
Today, she spoke to me of the details around his death. Of his impending eviction from the house he had lived in for so long, the house which had been in his sweetheart's name and was now to be returned to her family. Of his continuing deep depression while mourning his beloved. Of his plan to no longer be part of the deep sadness of the world. Of the friend who had an arranged time to come to his house. Of David's son coming by unexpectedly and finding his dad, of his son running down the street to the bank where his sister worked, saying to her "I think Dad has hurt himself".
Very sad.
Her voice broke when speaking of her grandchildren's pain.
And so we turned the talk to the other grandchildren, all more than a decade younger than the two in Tennessee.
The two girls in Virginia, both involved with field hockey, one also with lacrosse, the other with soccer.
The boy and girl in Minnesota, now 9 and 7, respectively, and their friends and activities.
And I shared a photo on my phone from my Midwest-Canada Adventure last year when I had visited my ex and the Adams family in Michigan and we had dined at Buddy's.
And I shared a photo on my phone from this fall when the ex's stepsister and her family had visited Savannah from Paris and we had dined at Paula Deen's place.
And we ate Eggs Sardou and Seafood Omelette and Shrimp Creole, sharing bites, as is the custom with the ex's family.
And we shared beignets, with our meals, because dessest needs to be eaten along with, or before, not after.
Life is short and good times, and good things, are to be celebrated.
That bears repeating.
This has been a good day.
Today, I had a wonderful brunch with my Auntie and Uncle, on my ex's side. They really enjoy Huey's and had come from Hilton Head, where they are taking a respite from events of the past month.
What events?
Well, first and foremost, the unforeseen death of their first-born son at only 54 years old.
The travel from Virginia to Tennessee to make arrangements for his funeral.
The burial.
Then the emptying of his house, a process which fell squarely on Auntie's shoulders and took three weeks.
Very sad.
Today, she spoke to me of the details around his death. Of his impending eviction from the house he had lived in for so long, the house which had been in his sweetheart's name and was now to be returned to her family. Of his continuing deep depression while mourning his beloved. Of his plan to no longer be part of the deep sadness of the world. Of the friend who had an arranged time to come to his house. Of David's son coming by unexpectedly and finding his dad, of his son running down the street to the bank where his sister worked, saying to her "I think Dad has hurt himself".
Very sad.
Her voice broke when speaking of her grandchildren's pain.
And so we turned the talk to the other grandchildren, all more than a decade younger than the two in Tennessee.
The two girls in Virginia, both involved with field hockey, one also with lacrosse, the other with soccer.
The boy and girl in Minnesota, now 9 and 7, respectively, and their friends and activities.
And I shared a photo on my phone from my Midwest-Canada Adventure last year when I had visited my ex and the Adams family in Michigan and we had dined at Buddy's.
And I shared a photo on my phone from this fall when the ex's stepsister and her family had visited Savannah from Paris and we had dined at Paula Deen's place.
And we ate Eggs Sardou and Seafood Omelette and Shrimp Creole, sharing bites, as is the custom with the ex's family.
And we shared beignets, with our meals, because dessest needs to be eaten along with, or before, not after.
Life is short and good times, and good things, are to be celebrated.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
vultures, eskimos, and more!
More lovely, delectable, scrumdiddli-icious puns!!!
Are you excited?
I am!
These are, as usual, from the outlaw Bunny's mother.
I know puns can be kinda goofy, but some of these are really good!
1. Two vultures board an airplane, each carrying two dead
raccoons. The stewardess looks at them and says, "I'm sorry,
gentlemen, only one carrion allowed per passenger."
2. Two boll weevils grew up in South Carolina. One went to
Hollywood and became a famous actor. The other stayed behind
in the cotton fields and never amounted to much. The second
one, naturally, became known as the lesser of two weevils.
3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, but when they
lit a fire in the craft, it sank, proving once again that you
can't have your kayak and heat it, too.
4. A three-legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West. He
slides up to the bar and announces: "I'm looking for the man
who shot my paw."
5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during
a root canal? He wanted to transcend dental medication.
6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were
standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament
victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the
office and asked them to disperse.
"But why?", one asked, as they moved off.
"Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an
open foyer."
7. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of
them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other
goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later,
Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon
receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes
she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds,
"They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."
8. These friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they
opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone
liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist
across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the
good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back
and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the
rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most
vicious thug in town, to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up
the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they
didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving
that Hugh, and only Hugh, can prevent florist friars.
9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the
time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet.
He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with
his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him
....what? (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) ...A super
callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
10. And finally, there was a woman who sent ten different puns
to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would
make them laugh. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did.
Are you excited?
I am!
These are, as usual, from the outlaw Bunny's mother.
I know puns can be kinda goofy, but some of these are really good!
1. Two vultures board an airplane, each carrying two dead
raccoons. The stewardess looks at them and says, "I'm sorry,
gentlemen, only one carrion allowed per passenger."
2. Two boll weevils grew up in South Carolina. One went to
Hollywood and became a famous actor. The other stayed behind
in the cotton fields and never amounted to much. The second
one, naturally, became known as the lesser of two weevils.
3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, but when they
lit a fire in the craft, it sank, proving once again that you
can't have your kayak and heat it, too.
4. A three-legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West. He
slides up to the bar and announces: "I'm looking for the man
who shot my paw."
5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during
a root canal? He wanted to transcend dental medication.
6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were
standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament
victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the
office and asked them to disperse.
"But why?", one asked, as they moved off.
"Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an
open foyer."
7. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of
them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other
goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later,
Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon
receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes
she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds,
"They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."
8. These friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they
opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone
liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist
across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the
good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back
and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the
rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most
vicious thug in town, to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up
the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they
didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving
that Hugh, and only Hugh, can prevent florist friars.
9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the
time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet.
He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with
his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him
....what? (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) ...A super
callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
10. And finally, there was a woman who sent ten different puns
to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would
make them laugh. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
no incumbents for me, please - I've had enough
Today was an election day and the biggest item on the agenda was whether or not to allow our elected politicians to continue taking an extra 1% of our pay. Sure, on the face of it, we were voting on the continuation of our sales tax being 7% instead of 6% (the base 4% rate here in Georgia, plus an additional 1% and yet another 1%, which both seem permanently attached).
The upshot of it all is the extra 1% tax remains for another three years.
Oh, joy.
I know some of the funds will be used for worthwhile expenses, like repairing drainage problems and such. After all, the politicians will have to do so, won't they? Then they will have those good for the populace items to wave in front of us the NEXT time the "penny" tax comes up for a vote.
But they also have big-ticket boondoggles they intend to fund this time around. Does the city truly need a new civic center? I think not. The city needs smarter planners who can better utilize the resources we already have.
I guess someone's brother-in-law or cousin are needing the construction business.
My British former teacher, Cedric, sent these to me.
They would be jokes were they not true.
You'll see.
If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates.
~Jay Leno~
The problem with political jokes is they get elected.
~Henry Cate, VII~
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
~Aesop~
If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these State of the Union speeches, there wouldn't be any inducement to go to heaven.
~Will Rogers~
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
~Nikita Khrushchev~
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it.
~Clarence Darrow~
Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.
~Author unknown~
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.
~John Quinton~
Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.
~Oscar Ameringer~
I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them.
~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952~
A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.
~ Tex Guinan~
I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
~Charles de Gaulle~
Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.
~Doug Larson~
The upshot of it all is the extra 1% tax remains for another three years.
Oh, joy.
I know some of the funds will be used for worthwhile expenses, like repairing drainage problems and such. After all, the politicians will have to do so, won't they? Then they will have those good for the populace items to wave in front of us the NEXT time the "penny" tax comes up for a vote.
But they also have big-ticket boondoggles they intend to fund this time around. Does the city truly need a new civic center? I think not. The city needs smarter planners who can better utilize the resources we already have.
I guess someone's brother-in-law or cousin are needing the construction business.
My British former teacher, Cedric, sent these to me.
They would be jokes were they not true.
You'll see.
If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates.
~Jay Leno~
The problem with political jokes is they get elected.
~Henry Cate, VII~
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
~Aesop~
If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these State of the Union speeches, there wouldn't be any inducement to go to heaven.
~Will Rogers~
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
~Nikita Khrushchev~
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it.
~Clarence Darrow~
Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.
~Author unknown~
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.
~John Quinton~
Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.
~Oscar Ameringer~
I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them.
~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952~
A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.
~ Tex Guinan~
I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
~Charles de Gaulle~
Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.
~Doug Larson~
Monday, November 4, 2013
i want to fly like a ...falcon?
Some Football Humor
Q: What do you call 53 people sitting around a TV watching the Super Bowl?
A: The Atlanta Falcons
Q: How do you keep an Atlanta Falcon out of your yard?
A: Put up goal posts.
Q: Where do you go in Atlanta in case of a tornado?
A: The Georgia Dome -- they never have a touchdown there.
Q: What do you call an Atlanta Falcon with a Super Bowl Ring?
A: A thief
Q: What's the difference between the Atlanta Falcons and a dollar bill?
A: You can still get 4 quarters out of a dollar bill.
Q: What do the Atlanta Falcons and possums have in common?
A: Both play dead at home and get killed on the road.
Q: What do the Atlanta Falcons and Billy Graham have in common?
A: Both can make 72,000 people stand up and yell "Jesus Christ!"
Q: What do you call 53 people sitting around a TV watching the Super Bowl?
A: The Atlanta Falcons
Q: How do you keep an Atlanta Falcon out of your yard?
A: Put up goal posts.
Q: Where do you go in Atlanta in case of a tornado?
A: The Georgia Dome -- they never have a touchdown there.
Q: What do you call an Atlanta Falcon with a Super Bowl Ring?
A: A thief
Q: What's the difference between the Atlanta Falcons and a dollar bill?
A: You can still get 4 quarters out of a dollar bill.
Q: What do the Atlanta Falcons and possums have in common?
A: Both play dead at home and get killed on the road.
Q: What do the Atlanta Falcons and Billy Graham have in common?
A: Both can make 72,000 people stand up and yell "Jesus Christ!"
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