Life in the Land of Labs

In Minnesota They Play Golf In The Snow With Colored Balls.......

2009-01-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

I play golf a lot. At least once a week. That’s once a week twelve months a year. Remember, I live in Southern California. Even when the weather is slightly insane (remember the snow?) it always goes back to “normal” which is warm, sunny and mild. The big golf clothing decision is usually shorts? Or long pants? It doesn’t get much more complicated than that. I have wind shirts of all colors. Most have been worn once, maybe twice. Cold, wind, rain, snow, etc. etc. is not much of an issue in Southern California.

However, my future, those retirement years that we all look forward to, involves moving back East to be close to the family. Who wants to grow old 3000 miles away from those you love? After all, it’s not just anybody who will change your Depends. That takes family and love or else a lot of money. I don’t have a lot of money, hence the ageing process needs to be near family.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m a “youngster” by today’s standards of ageing. I feel great, I’m full of energy, I’m still working, but I worked in healthcare for many years and I now teach healthcare. Therefore, I can easily see the possible handwriting on the wall. I hope I age as well as my mother who is in her 80’s and perking right along quite nicely. I hope to still be golfing when I’m in my 80’s but, just in case, it seems prudent to live near family and loved ones, all of whom are younger than me. I am a planner by nature and this seems like a good plan.

However, all this is really beside the point of this post. The point is, how will I live in a place where “winter” really means winter? Where it’s cold and rainy, or maybe snowy, and the golf courses close down for months at a time?

I can’t imagine not doing outdoor activities whenever I feel like it. We plan outdoor events with never a thought for the weather. The Hollywood Bowl has no cover. Rain? So rare it isn’t an issue. Cold? I have coats, but then I live in the high desert ABOVE L.A. so it does get pretty nippy. I just drive down the hill to “normal” L.A. weather, 45 minutes away, and then we play golf. How will I deal with the phenomenon of real winter for months at a time?

I see a Florida vacation home in my future. Winter golf is a must. I must look up the exact definition of "Snow Bird."

The Creeping Crud and Other News

2009-01-05T12:46:00.001-08:00

Well, another rip-roaring New Year’s Eve celebration has come and gone and 2009 is here. The aforementioned celebration involved flannel pajamas, chocolate chip cookies and my mother so that’s probably enough said. I wouldn’t want to make you jealous by describing the big time that we had. Should I tell you that I fell asleep waiting for the ball to drop? Naw, probably not. You’ll think I’m an old fart.

If you don’t see the New Year arrive, did it actually get here?

I have the creeping crud, aka, the flu, the bug or a bad cold. Here I am on vacation with this lovely runny nose and a horrible cough. Not to mention the ache all over stuff. I’m also very generous. I shared. Now my mother is sick. I’m on the backside of this mess now and am actually starting to feel a bit better. By the time I’m ready to go home, I should be back in perfect health. The Kentucky folks will be glad to get rid of me.

I hate flying. All that damn re-cycled, shared, germy air that is floating around in a plane cabin at 35,000 feet is exactly why I’m sick. I have no doubt that someone on that plane shared. And the sharing just keeps going on. Airborne viruses are a bitch.

My Mother’s little dog has decided she loves me. She’s been in my lap, at my side and all over me for days. She sure is different than my cho-co-lata girls. Check her out: Another week in the blue grass then back to CA. I talked to the folks at home in SoCal. It’s colder in CA than it is here. Now how does that make any sense??

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-01T08:51:00.001-08:00

And since the New Year is usually represented by a new baby, I offer you this picture of a beautiful baby to start your New Year off right:

Thoughts on Aging

2008-12-30T12:18:00.000-08:00

You Know You’re Getting Old When:

1. The bank tellers and other business people in your life look like high school students.

2. You think every lousy driver on the road is “some stupid kid”.

3. On New Years Eve you’d rather stay home, eat snacks, watch movies and be with your family instead of going to a party.

4. An hour of hard physical work makes you feel like you’ve been beat with a stick, and you used to spend the whole day working in the yard or cleaning the house or walking for 18 holes of golf with never a second thought. Now you hire the yard to be maintained and the house to be cleaned and you ride on a golf cart.

5. After you sit for too long in one spot, when you get up, you creak and kind of “crip” along for a while until everything “loosens up” again.

6. Your feet keep getting bigger, your neck more wrinkled and your boobs more saggy. Body parts that used to be “pert” are now droopy.

7. Your idea of a big night on the town is dinner and a movie. Remember when you used to dance the night away??

8. The reality of “going shopping”, once the most fun thing you could think of, is that it now resembles an endurance race. You send up several prayers of thanks daily for the invention of Internet Shopping.

9. You’d rather be shot than go shopping on Black Friday or the day after Christmas. There is no sale that good.

10. In shoes and clothing, Comfort and Looks becomes more important than Looks and Price.

11. You feel the freedom of your age…..no worries about how sexy you look or whether it’s okay to go to the store with no make-up. You just go and never give it a second thought. Clean and neat is much more important than cute and sexy.

12. You need glasses to watch TV, drive, read or do most anything of interest. You used to have 20-20 perfect vision and you will never forgive your eyes for failing you.

13. You can tell how cold it is, not by watching the local weatherman, but by the degree of stiffness or pain in your joints.

14. Your mind is frequently making these BIG plans that your body can’t possibly keep up with. Your mind is young, your body is getting old. It’s very difficult to keep them properly in sync.

15. The little old gray haired lady sitting across the room is not your mother. It’s The Spouse. And your ages are very much in the same era.

16. You don’t worry greatly about holding your stomach in anymore, no matter who is there. It is what it is.

17. Sex is no longer the first, last and major thing on your mind. It’s not dead, but it’s resting a lot.

18. You know all the words to the “Oldies But Goodies” on the radio.

19. The youth around you talk about “The Sixties” like it is “history” or something. You were there. Wasn’t that just a couple of years ago??

20. You realize that WW2 was over a half century ago. Surely that cannot be. Many of today’s youth have no idea what December 7 represents.

Memories....or not

2008-12-26T09:34:00.000-08:00

Today I am packing. I’m heading East to visit with the family and particularly to spend time with my Mom. She’s getting up there in years and I try to go as often as I can to spend quality time with her. She’s a very important person in my life.

Because of the nature of The Spouse’s work, which I have discussed before, I often see how some mothers treat their children and it is truly unbelievable. Just yesterday, Christmas Day, The Spouse had to go to the local hospital to take possession of a newborn that was born drug exposed. In other words, his mother took drugs while pregnant. This is not the first of this woman’s children that this has happened to and this stupid woman keeps losing her kids to the foster system. When The Spouse asked her point blank why she continued taking drugs while pregnant, she responded, “you just don’t understand”. The Spouse agreed she did not and then she took possession of the baby. The mother informed The Spouse that this time she would “fight” for the baby. The Spouse told her good luck. Not gonna happen.

I guess these kinds of things are so far out of the realm of what I experienced as a child, and what I understand about being a mother, that it is like The Spouse is speaking a foreign language when she tells me about these events. I just don’t get it. My mother did so much for me when I was growing up, gave up so much, always put me and my welfare first and I feel very sure never took so much as an aspirin when she was pregnant with me. There are many things I know she did and I’m sure equally as many that I have no idea about. However, as I sit here, robust, healthy, intelligent, etc. etc, I know where a great deal of the credit goes.

She nursed me. I’m not sure young mothers today realize just how important this is. The strength it gave my immune system, the really good brain I function with, the strong bones…..many of those go back to those first few months of my life when Mom nursed me. I have read that testing has PROVEN that babies that are breast fed are more intelligent, healthier and have stronger immune systems. Their brains and bodies just develop better. They have a distinct advantage over the bottle fed. Thanks Mom.

She and my Dad loved each other and stayed together for their entire adult lives. No marriage is perfect. Two people always have “issues” but I never knew what my parent’s issues were. We, their children, just figured they were perfectly matched. They were married for 62 years. A child that is raised in a home with both parents, where those parents love each other, and love and want that child, is so much more likely to become an emotionally healthy, well adjusted adult. Thanks Mom.

She made me take typing in high school. She said I would never go hungry if I knew how to type. She was so right. Thanks Mom.

She taught me to cook. I have no memory of this but then I have no memory in general so this is not unusual. However, today, I am an excellent cook and know many of the “little secrets” of being a good cook. Once when Mom and I were discussing cooking, she rightly pointed out, “just who do you think taught you how to use a measuring cup? Or a sifter? Or a rolling pin? Etc. etc. She’s so right. I have gone above and beyond that basic cooking knowledge, but I had to have that foundation. Thanks Mom.

My mother doesn’t particularly like cooking. She’s not “a cook” like I am. BUT, every night of her life, when she had small children at home, there was a hot cooked meal on the table ready and waiting for her family. She got up every morning and cooked breakfast in order to send us off to school with a full tummy. No matter how tight the budget, and there were times it was plenty tight, there was always food on the table and we always sat down together an ate dinner as a family. Thanks Mom.

When I was an infant, she and my Dad would take turns going to the movies while the other one stayed with me. They didn’t want to leave me with a stranger when I was so little. Thanks Mom.

She and my Dad had more children than just me. Not only because they wanted a bigger family but because they didn’t want me to be an only child. They worried that I would be lonely. Today, my siblings are an important and vital part of my life. I can’t imagine them not being there. Thanks Mom.

When my Dad was overseas (military man) and my Mom was “wrestling” with managing four children alone, she still let me (the oldest) have my teenage freedom. Even though she desperately needed my help with an adolescent, a toddler and a newborn, she still let me go and play ball. My team needed their pitcher as much as she needed her helper. She understood that. Thanks Mom.

I once came very close to being molested. I was just a child. My Mom had a mother's sixth sense, knew something was wrong, and came to my rescue. She got there just in time. Nothing happened. Somehow she knew. Thanks Mom.

When I was a teenager and I was obnoxious, rude, self-righteous, convinced I knew everything, lazy, self-centered and most of all just a huge pain in the ass, she still loved me. I have no idea why. Thanks Mom.

She never said “just wait till your father gets home”……she dealt with it. Thanks Mom.

I could go on and on as my Mom has been a “force” in my life for all of my 63 years. She continues to be to this day. Thanks for everything Mom, I love you.

Back to my packing………….

Merry Christmas To All and To All a Good Night

2008-12-25T11:06:00.001-08:00

Enjoy!!

2008-12-23T13:08:00.000-08:00

Hang in there...it just keeps getting cuter.

My Christmas Tree = The Story of My Life

2008-12-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

Today, as I walked past the Christmas tree, rather than seeing it as part of the overall holiday schmaltz that is encompassing my home, I tuned in to the various individual ornaments. In a moment of lightning clarity, I realized that the ornaments on the tree really tell the story of our particular lives. I was not unaware of the symbolism as we decorated the tree, but somehow, today it really hit home. Not sure just why, but I thought I would share.

Some people do color schemes when they decorate their tree, others do themes. At my house, we do our life. Many of our ornaments were gifts received over the years, so I guess they are a reflection of how our friends see us. Some of them we purchased as a momento of some event. Others just “happened” to us and we liked them, so they stayed around. We have many more ornaments still packed away, that aren’t being used, as we have a small tree this year. I probably have enough ornaments for a couple of trees but each year we just use the ones that “strike us” as we are decorating. Here’s just a sampling of some of the ornaments on this years tree.

By looking at this ornament, I bet it is entirely unnecessary for me to tell you that we are golfers.

This one reflects the Star Trek years. This is actually the U.S.S. Voyager, but let’s not nitpick.
This one was a gift almost 30 years ago and one that is still well loved. These metal ornaments start to show their age as the years go rolling past. Hence, the scratches. I think of them as the badges of Christmas past.
Need I say that we have a Chicago sports fan in our home?
Back to golf again. I have received golf themed ornaments as gifts quite often over the years.
This is one of our very sentimental decorations. It is homemade and it is actually more green than it looks. The flash “blued” it up considerably. Back in my other life, many, many moons ago, I had three children in my home, one of my own and two that belonged to my now deceased former mate. One Christmas, in a burst of old-fashioned “fun things to do”, we made Christmas ornaments. We found a recipe and mixed up some batter, rolled it out and, using cookie cutters, we cut it into suitable shapes. Then I baked them in the oven until they were rock hard and then we allowed them to cool. After baking, the kids painted the ornaments by hand. It was exceptionally messy and exceptionally fun. Now, here we are, more than 30 years later and this one ornament has survived the test of time. It always goes on the tree. Gina made it.If you have small children, I strongly recommend this as a Christmas activity with your child. Just think about 30 years from now when that little boy is a man with children of his own. That ornament will still be on your tree. Here’s a recipe for the salt dough that we made http://crafts.kaboose.com/saltdoughgifttoppers.html and here’s another: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ornament-Dough/Detail.aspx They seem to be easy to find on the Web.

Here’s another of the aging, and much loved, brass ornaments.
I realize it’s hard to believe, but we actually have a Starbucks coffee cup on our tree. The Spouse loves Starbucks almost as much as she loves me.
And finally, a hand carved, wooden, ornament from Europe. Memories of another time and place.

Seasons Greetings

2008-12-20T14:27:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Comparisons

2008-12-18T22:30:00.001-08:00

I wouldn't want you to think I was exaggerating. Check out these pictures taken a few hours apart. Same spot in the back yard.

In other news, I was out running errands today and Californians are just not used to dealing with snow. Icy parking lots were being navigated with tennis shoes and a prayer; I had a mammogram today and the lady doing the check-ins was astounded that I actually showed up; as I drove down the main drag of our little town this morning, both sides of the street were lined up for miles with 18 wheelers. They had been "caught" when the freeway closed due to the snow and ice and so they spent the night in their truck cabs sitting on our main street. The freeway was closed for a full 24 hours and they had to bring in snow plows from some of the nearby mountain areas in order to get the roads cleaned up enough for safe travel.

When I returned from the grocery store, I had to "shovel" snow with a dust pan in order to make a path for us to walk the groceries into the house from the driveway. My regular shovel has a rounded end and was worthless for the scraping motion I needed to clear snow.

Last night in a desperate attempt to get a TV signal, the Spouse and I were outside in wild, blowing snow, climbing a ladder and using a broom to remove piled up snow from our Satellite Dish. For the record it didn't work. Apparently the snow was so heavy and the clouds so thick that the dish just couldn't pick up the satellite signal. As of this morning everything is back in working order. A little sunshine does wonders!

The Spouse went outside to clear windshields this morning as we both had to go out. She ended up on her butt twice in the driveway as it was so icy. I made her come in and we used the car heaters and windshield wipers to clear the windows. It took a while to melt, let me tell you. I considered pouring warm water on the windshields, but since I am an inexperienced snow novice, I was afraid the great contrast in temperatures might crack the windshield. What do I know about getting snow off a car? Not much obviously.

The dogs have decided they like the snow and they are constantly asking to go out and play. The cold weather apparently agrees with them. This must be why they don't mind swimming even when the pool is icy cold. Their breed is actually descended from dogs that used to jump into the icy North Pacific and help fisherman haul in their full nets. No wonder they don't mind the cold!

Update

2008-12-17T14:13:00.000-08:00

More snow news....we have 8 1/2 inches on the ground and it continues to pour down in blizzard like conditions!! The TV healed itself and the news tells us we may get a foot or more!! Southern California is in no way prepared to deal with this volume of snow. Slowly but surely we are becoming "paralyzed". The freeways look like parking lots and the roads are slippery and icy. Businesses are closing early and kids are building snowmen and having snowball fights.

I took my dogs outside to play and once they got used to this "strange white stuff" they had a ball running, jumping and playing. The cold seemed to invigorate them and I had to stop their rough housing so close to the pool. With the icy deck I was afraid they would go sliding into the frigid water! Although, honestly, if they had, I'm sure they would have been just fine. Hunting Labs go plunging into icy streams and lakes all the time. It's just that my girls are spoiled California dogs and not used to the cold.

SNOW DOG!!!

I know you folks that live in snow country think that all this "hoorah" over a little snow is silly but this is SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA!! It is seriously big news to us.

Jack Frost

2008-12-17T10:06:00.000-08:00

Today we are having an “event” that only happens about every 10 years or so where I live. Therefore, when it occurs, we are enthralled and tend to run around and play like small children. I am talking about SNOW and all the fun things that go with it. Forget about icy roads, freezing hands and missed appointments. We are enjoying the beauty that is Mother Nature today and it is incredible!!

Most people who read this blog are aware that I live in the greater Los Angeles area so when I say this is rare, I do mean rare. Check out the pictures……

My dogs have never seen snow so when they went out this morning to do their business, they seemed fascinated, curious and a little nervous. “What is this white stuff Mom?” They rushed back inside with snowy backs and the young one was shivering. They are truly snow novices and cold weather wimps, as are we all in this part of the world.

People around here don’t know how to drive when it rains. For snow? They are hopeless. Hopefully, they will stay home today and not get out on those icy roads. I’ve already cancelled today’s appointments and will spend the day wrapping Christmas presents and doing some baking.

As I write, it is snowing VERY hard and the weatherman said we can expect 6-8 inches as our present from Alaska. That is the weatherman on last night’s news said to expect 6-8 inches. The news this morning? Not happening. The satellite dish is covered with snow and in shock apparently. We have no reception.

Well, that’s it for this time. I’m going outside to build a snowman!!

Nesting

2008-12-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

Some crazy gene that I am normally not even aware of apparently turns on and goes into overdrive when it gets cold. The nesting gene? Hell, I don’t know but as soon as the weather turns cold and ugly and wintry, I head for the kitchen. Since Alaska sent a storm down to us and we are experiencing rain, snow, sleet and freezing temperatures, I started cooking.

I wanted large quantities of warm, fragrant, fresh food and so I started rattling those pots and pans. Last night, IN ONE EVENING, I made a huge pot of delicious split pea soup. It was thick and tasty and all filled with ham and onions and shredded carrots. The family loved it. Then I made cornbread to go with it because who can have split pea soup without hot crusty cornbread? Then, of course, you have to have dessert and since I couldn’t decide what to make, I made a chocolate cake AND a batch of white, cranberry, nut candy.

Apparently, at this point, I still wasn’t well “nested” enough, so I made some orange-cranberry muffins which we enjoyed this morning. At that point my cooking ardor cooled and I sat down to enjoy the rest of the evening.

This is not the first time this has happened to me and I’m sure it won’t be the last, but I do find it to be an interesting phenomenon. Cold weather = cooking large quantities of hot nourishing food. Although, honestly, I’m not sure just how nourishing the sweets are, but they are certainly tasty.

Speaking of which, I thought I’d share the candy recipe with you since nothing could be easier and we think it is most delicious. Quantities are at your own discretion, since how much you use of each ingredient depends on how much you want to make. Therefore, I’ll just give you basic directions and you make however much you want. Get some white chocolate chips. Melt them in the microwave. Once you have liquid chocolate, add some dried cranberries. You will find them in the same area of the store where the raisins are. Then add pistachio nuts. Stir it all together. Then spread the candy mixture into the container of your choice and let it harden. Then cut candy, eat candy and enjoy. See? Extremely simple. The tartness of the cranberries, the saltiness of the pistachios and the extreme sweetness of the melted white chocolate all combine together to make some seriously tasty candy. Try it, you’ll like it.

An Old Fashioned Dessert

2008-12-13T06:20:00.000-08:00

I had some VERY ripe bananas in the kitchen the other day and I decided, on the spur of the moment, to make some banana pudding. You know, the old fashioned kind with ‘nilla wafers and ‘nanners and puddin’. It turned out so well, and was so popular here at Lucy’s house, that I thought I’d share. Here’s what you need:

1 box “Nilla Wafers (is there any other kind but Nabisco?)
Several ripe bananas
1 large box sugar free, instant, vanilla pudding
1 large box sugar free, instant, banana cream pudding

This recipe made a large rectangular baking dish (9 x 13) full. You can make more or less by just adjusting the quantity of your three ingredients.

First line the dish with vanilla wafers. Put some on the sides too. Then slice the bananas into bite-size pieces and make the next layer with banana slices. Then mix up the two puddings, together, and pour enough pudding into the pan to cover the wafers and banana slices. Then repeat, ending with a layer of pudding on top. Sprinkle some nutmeg on top of the final layer of pudding, cover the dessert, and refrigerate. It will stay fresh and tasty for several days in the refrigerator.

Make up the pudding at the last minute when you are ready to pour it into the dish. It firms up very quickly and if you make it too far in advance, you won’t be able to pour it.

I used one vanilla and one banana cream pudding as that’s what I happened to have on hand and it worked great. I’m sure you could also use two vanillas or two banana cream flavor puddings. With all vanilla it will taste less “banana-ish” and with two banana creams it will have a very strong banana flavor. The combination of the two seemed just right to my crew.

This recipe gets “bonus” points at my house because it’s exceptionally easy to make AND since each serving has only a few wafers, fresh bananas and sugar free pudding, it’s low in calories and/or points.

Enjoy!!

Random Thoughts

2008-12-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

I filled my gas tank, which was very empty, all the way to the tip top and it cost me $27.40. Note that I have a large van. I did a happy dance right there at the gas station.

So far no ill effects for Lucy from the lizard consumption. That girl has a stalwart constitution. We are calling her Lizard Breath as a new nickname.

We have decided to stop giving stinky dog so much fish oil. Maybe that is contributing to her problems? I’ll let you know if it helps.

The Spouse is smoking again. I begin to believe it is a losing battle for her. It’s just too hard.

One of my few splurges, in this time of belt tightening, is enjoying the services of a personal trainer. I simply won’t/don’t exercise without a very specific incentive. Having an appointment with someone and knowing that I must show up or leave her standing and waiting for me is what I need. I go, I exercise, I suffer. I have so many new terms in my vocabulary. Tricep dips, hammer curls, roll-ups…the fun never ceases. I’m not getting skinnier, but I’m definitely getting stronger and dramatically improving my sense of balance, which I didn’t know had gone to hell until I tried to use it. Very eye opening. Hopefully, if I ever stop eating cookies, candy, cake, pie, et al., I might actually see some weight loss as well.

In these times of troubled housing markets, we are considering upgrading to something bigger and better. Don’t know if we will, but we’re talking. A house that cost $½ mill a year ago can now be had for $200,000 give or take. That’s astounding. It’s definitely a buyer’s market. However, the thought of moving makes me sick to my stomach. I’ll have to seriously think about how badly I want more room and space.

We’re staying home more nowadays and, even though I dearly love television, a steady diet can wear a bit thin. We actually broke out some games the other night and played Gin Rummy and then Scrabble. I had forgotten how much fun those things can be. We must keep on doing this. We had to update our Scrabble game due to some missing parts and I discovered, while at Target, that apparently staying home and playing games is getting very big again. Target had, literally, hundreds of board games available to purchase. I was amazed at the volume and variety. Maybe we really are returning to simpler times.

Eating our Greens to Stay Healthy

2008-12-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

The Spouse took Lucy and Meg (our Chocolate Labs) out onto the patio for a few minutes of playtime in the brisk, cold, evening air. They do love to be outside even on a nippy winter night. It never slows them down.

As they hopped and played and chased their tennis balls and caught their rings, “something” caught Lucy’s eye and she wandered over to take a look. Suddenly, she was at full alert! Body rigid, back hairs standing up, tail frozen in place, (instead of wagging madly) and her eyes glued to the ground.

The Spouse walked over to see what she had found and discovered Lucy’s nose on the back of a lizard about 2 inches long. She was sniffing it vigorously and with great interest.

“Leave it alone Lucy”, commanded The Spouse. Lucy lifted her head and, instead of her nose, placed a large paw on the lizard. “No, Lucy, leave it be, here, catch your tennis ball.”

Lucy wanted the tennis ball and she wanted the lizard. She solved the problem neatly. Bending down, with a large pink tongue, she scooped up the lizard and put it into her mouth. Its tail was sticking out between her lips and thrashing around madly.

The horrified Spouse yelled, “No, Lucy, No, drop it.” Lucy didn’t want to drop it. It was her “treasure”. Instead she swallowed.

Fresh greens anyone?

Yuk.

Where's The Ban?

2008-12-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

My dog smells bad. Bless her little stinky heart. She can’t help it. But it is a first for us even with all our years of animal parenting, and we are suffering. Our dogs are swimmers who love the water and even in the cold of winter they rarely hesitate to take a dip in an icy pool. In the summer they live in the pool. Consequently, our dogs smell sweet and fresh and clean with maybe a hint of Chlorine.

However, we now have a pup that is a stink pot. She didn’t always stink but apparently, she went through puberty, her glands woke up and now she smells. She apparently has over active oil glands in her skin and, unless she is bathed at least every other day or so, she starts to get a ripe, stinky, dog smell. The chlorine doesn’t do the trick. She needs soap and water. The wetness from the pool just exacerbates her smell.

Since these girls are house dogs, bed dogs, lap dogs and well loved and well hugged, this is a troublesome problem. Who wants to hug a stinky dog? However, she is so sweet and so loving and so oblivious to her problem. She can’t help it. She doesn’t know she stinks.

The vet had us buy Selsun Blue to shampoo her with. Apparently the Selenium in that particular shampoo dries up the skin and helps with this type of problem. Who knew? I must admit, she smells very good when she is fresh out of the shower.

In the summer, we just use the hose and lather her up in the back yard, but in the winter, she joins one of us in the shower. Fortunately, she loves the warm spray and having her body all lathered up and then rinsed off. Unfortunately, it is backbreaking to bend over and clean her up.

This is true love.

Notes From the Dark Side

2008-12-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

The Spouse is trying to quit smoking. To say I am thrilled is a minor understatement, however, I’m playing it very low key as she definitely does not want to talk about it. We had a little cancer “scare” here just recently and, although it now appears that things are going to be okay, I think getting scared of the idea of cancer was just what she needed to push her to stop the cigarettes.

The problem, of course, is that she’s mean as a snake. She’s been smoking for more than 40 years and that equals a serious addiction and a very unpleasant withdrawal. You’ve heard of that lion with a thorn in its paw? Well, she’s limping around and that thorn (also known as nicotine addiction) is really digging in. It is not pleasant for either of us.

However, I have great empathy. I remember the hell I went through when I quit, oh so many years ago. They didn’t have patches and gum and all that stuff back then and I just went cold turkey. For some inexplicable reason, she has chosen to do the same. No patches, no gum, no pills, no cigarettes. Gotta admire her gumption even while I suffer through her being so very unpleasant. Nobody around here is very happy at the moment.

In other news, it’s Finals week at school and I’m busily creating final exams for my classes. That too is a challenging task: to make a question hard enough to be “worthy” for a final, but not so hard, they all miss it. I do want them to make a good showing for it reflects well on my teaching. I have new textbooks this semester, hence I have to create all new tests. Not fun.

And finally, our weather is insane. First it’s warm and sunny and you can wear shorts. Today, it’s freezing cold with wildly blowing winds and gray skies. The weatherman truly cannot make up his mind.

Christmas is coming way too fast. I’m not doing much this year, but the little I’m doing isn’t done. Time needs to slow down……..

I'm B-A-A-A-A-A-C-K.......

2008-12-07T13:21:00.000-08:00

I’ve been missing in action for awhile but felt like writing, so here I am. My thoughts today revolve around the economy and how we’re dealing with it. I’ve been very lucky for the last few years and haven’t had to “count pennies”, however, now we are being much more careful with our money. We really splurged on our recent wedding which left some of our “buffer” accounts close to empty and credit cards with high balances, so it was definitely time to cut back, pare down and remember how to be thrifty.

Here are some of the things we’re doing:

1. Planning menus, making a grocery list, pulling coupons and THEN going shopping. That has not been the methodology for the last few years. Mostly I just bought whatever I felt like buying and never gave it a second thought. Now I’m giving it second and third thoughts.

2. We like matinee movies anyway, so now we are just making a point to go before 6 PM. It’s a lot cheaper. And, I confess, I have an ice cold bottle of Diet Coke in the bottom of my purse as well as something sweet. We do buy the hot fresh popcorn at the refreshment stand, but the rest of our goodies, we bring from home.

3. I’m so thrilled about the price of gas, words can hardly express it. I live in the state with the most expensive gas in the nation, so they tell us, and just a month or two ago it cost me $84 to fill my gas tank. Yesterday I filled up for $32.00. I am a very happy girl! However, when it cost a fortune to fill my tank I got in the habit of not driving so much, doing all my errands on one trip and making a concerted effort to drive the speed limit in order to conserve gas. I am continuing these habits even with my $32 tank of gas.

4. We’ve started buying and using a number of different store brands and, surprisingly, some of them are very good. Example? Albertson’s store brand OJ is half the price of Minute Maid, and the other name brands, and it’s just as good. The Costco store brand of laundry detergent was reputed to be as good as the name brands, so I have read. We decided to give it a try. It works great and costs 1/3 of what the name brand does and I am VERY picky about my laundry.

5. I’m a golfer and this is not a cheap hobby. Fortunately, I have all the equipment I will ever need in this lifetime, or the next, but green fees can be steep at some courses. We are making a point to play at city or county courses where the cost is half or less than private courses. These public courses do not have country club smooth greens and perfectly tailored fairways, however, they are in good condition and perfectly acceptable for casual play.

6. We have programmed the thermostat on the heater so that the house is cold at night (we prefer cold air and warm covers for sleeping) and just comfortable in the daytime. Keeping the temperature consistent, as opposed to frequently running it up and down, is much more cost effective. I definitely see a difference in the gas bill.

7. We joined a program, offered through the electric company, that allowed them to put a “meter” on our AC unit and in the summertime, if electricity is running short, we, along with thousands of other people, have agreed to let them cycle our AC off and on, remotely, in order to manage the electrical needs of a city as large as Los Angeles. The max they might black out our AC, in any one event, would be for 2 hours and in return we are saving a fortune on our electric bill. I just got the current bill and it is down over $100 from previous bills from the same time period. For us this is a no-brainer since we use a swamp cooler in the summer and never turn on the AC anyway. We told them this and they said they didn’t care, we should sign up anyway. So we did. Good move.

8. I like to travel home frequently to see my Mom, who is definitely not getting any younger. This involves plane travel as she is on the other side of the country. I’m due for a trip home and I was concerned about airplane ticket costs and spending money and the overall money that is involved with travel. I solved it by obtaining my ticket through using my frequent flyer miles. I only had to pay $10 in taxes. Then I submitted the latest claim to our healthcare flexible spending account and The Spouse said I can have the check when it comes to use as spending money. So I’m going on a trip, planning lots of fun and visiting and spending nothing out of the budget.

9. I cook for my dogs and have for quite a long time. I would like to tell you this is very cost effective, but in reality, by the time I break down the cost of all ingredients, it is either the same or more than what I would spend by buying high quality dog food. The big difference is that I know they are eating healthy, high quality, people grade food. The financial payoff? Healthy, happy dogs with no vet visits except for routine care. Since a trip to the vet can be just as expensive as one of my trips to an M.D., not going to see the doggy doctor is very cost effective.

10. One of the biggest cost savers for us has been to stop eating fast food and get back to cooking. We ate way, way too much fast food for convenience sake and that stuff is not only bad for you, but it is ridiculously expensive for what you get. I’m remembering how to cook and bake and find that I’m really enjoying it. Plus, it’s a great way to save money! I have been reminded that nothing tastes as good as homemade………

I’ll try to write more. I really do enjoy it.

I Believe...............

2008-09-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

I was roaming around reading blogs this morning and ran across this question: What do you believe? An interesting question and one I feel like answering. The question was not faith directed or any other kind of directed for that matter, just………what do you believe?

1. I believe that two people who truly love each other and want to care for each other for the rest of their lives have the right to get married, legally. Doesn’t matter about the gender, the ethnicity, the race, the religion, none of it. It doesn’t matter. It’s about two hearts and love.

2. I believe that dogs truly are human kind’s best friend. Nobody else in my life will ever love me with such complete and total devotion, with no regard for how I look, how I smell, what I think or how I feel. There is nothing I could do to make these two, currently lying at my feet, stop loving me. Nothing. That’s pretty special and cannot be duplicated by any other creature that I know of.

3. I believe that it is incredibly unfair that my two nieces, both of whom will be exceptional, wonderful, sensitive, talented and understanding mothers, are struggling with infertility and adoption issues. And yet, right here in the city where I live there are women giving up babies, throwing away babies, mistreating babies and I am unable to get the two sides together.

4. I believe that the public school system in our country is failing our children and that the “dumbing down” of the system is causing them to go backwards rather than forward. My Dad learned more in a tiny, one room, country schoolhouse 75 years ago than too many of today’s students are learning in the beautifully built and air conditioned schools of today. Let’s go back to the three ‘R’s and to heck with political correctness. Those kids NEED geography and history and physical education and music as well as many other subjects that have been dropped from curriculums in too many schools. They should memorize multiplication tables and diagram sentences. Too bad if it’s hard. That’s how you learn! And you don’t get to the next grade unless you know the material from the current grade. No kid left behind is BS. If you can’t do the work, you should be left behind until you can.

5. I believe the majority of American women take their right to vote for granted. You don’t appreciate the blood and suffering that occurred to make it a reality. Put “Iron Jawed Angels” in your Netflix Queue. You’ll never miss another election.

6. I’ve come to believe that teaching is the best job in the world. Unfortunately, I came to this realization late in life and so will not reap the true benefits that can be gained from a lifetime career. Where else can you work 9 months a year and get paid for 12? Get all summer off from work? Have 4-6 weeks off work over the holidays? Get a week off every Spring? Only have to physically show up at work 2-3 days a week for a few hours (college level teaching)? Etc. etc. etc.

7. I believe that each of us will have dozens, maybe hundreds, of acquaintances as we go through our lives. However, the numbers of TRUE friends, REAL friends that we meet and go through life with can be counted on your fingers. If you’re really lucky, those few are not only friends, they are family members.

8. I believe the life our parents led and the ways in which they raised us has a dramatic impact on the adults we are today. If you are one of the lucky ones whose parents were together as a loving married couple for their entire lives, count your blessings. If your Dad was a strong, good man who was always there for his children, count your blessings. If your parents loved you and wanted you, count your blessings. If drugs or alcohol or violence were never a part of your childhood, count your blessings. There are way too few of us.

9. I believe that one decision can change your entire life. The Road of Life offers us many choices, but the path we choose to take is the one that determines our fate. Think about it. One decision.

10. I believe that our sexuality exists on a continuum. At one end is extreme and exclusive heterosexuality, at the other end is extreme and exclusive homosexuality. The vast majority of people are in the middle. So much depends on #9.

Wordless Wednesday - Almost

2008-09-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

One of the winning photos from The American Humane Society's 2008 photo contest

"Just One of the Many Reasons We Voluneer!" by Ingrid Brustad

Animal Lovers Unite!! Dangerous Pet Toy & A Lying Company That Doesn't Care

2008-09-04T21:14:00.001-07:00

Follow this link: http://www.thechaistory.blogspot.com/ When you do, you'll read a story about a dog tragedy caused by a toy. This sweet and innocent pup was playing with his ball and ended up losing his tongue. What a nightmare for the dog and the owner!

We, dog lovers of the world, must unite and run this company out of business. Clearly, "Four Paws" cares about nothing but money. They certainly don't care about animals.

Follow the link, read the story and become an activist!

Adventures in Fruitiness

2008-09-02T03:26:00.000-07:00

As a chronic Weight Watcher I eat a great deal of fruit. I should eat a lot of fruits and veges anyway, whether I’m a Weight Watcher or not, but the truth is, when I think dessert, I’d usually much rather have ice cream or a cookie or a piece of cake. However, I try to be good, so I eat a lot of fruit. I like the fresh, frozen and canned varieties so I think I can rightly be considered a “connoisseur” in the world of fruits.

The other day, while shopping, I decided to venture outside my usual apple, orange, banana, watermelon, pineapple et al varieties and try something different. Maybe y’all have already tried Asian Apple Pears and I’m way behind on my fruit coolness factor. However, I have just never gotten around to checking them out for no particular reason. But this week, I decided to give them a shot.

I’m a pretty adventuresome eater so I’m usually willing to try new things at least once, and if it doesn’t kill me or make me sick, I may be back for more. Therefore, when I saw apple pears in the market, I thought I’d give them a try. What the heck! I like apples and I like pears, so how bad could they be?

Well, they are not bad at all. In fact, they are downright delicious. They are extremely crisp which, in my book, is a big plus for fruit. I hate mushy fruit. They are sweet and tangy combining the best attributes of both the apple and the pear. The only thing I would recommend to those growers who are busily cross-pollinating different fruits is this: work on the color thing. Apples and pears are various lovely shades of green or red. This apple pear fruit is a rather strange looking tan-brown on the outside. Not overly appetizing to look at but very delicious to eat. Inside it is white just like an apple or a pear. Try them. If you like apples or pears, you will like this combo fruit. Expand your horizons!!

Here’s a “formal” description of this very tasty fruit: “Also called Apple Pear, Chinese Pear, Sand Pear or Nashi. Asian Pear is the generic name for over 25 different varieties of this "true pear." Although the outside appearance of each Asian Pear may differ, all Asian Pears are crunchy, juicy and sweet. Thought to originally come to the United States via Chinese immigrants, most Asian Pears are now grown in California, Oregon, and Washington. Depending on the variety, Asian Pears may be considerably large or somewhat small. Their color may vary from yellow to brown, and their skin may be smooth or speckled. Some of the most popular varieties generally can be described as: Hosui (Golden Russet Brown), Kosui (Golden Russet), Nijiseiki or Twentieth Century (Yellow-Green), Shinseiki (Yellow), Shinsui (Russet Brown). Chilled or cooked, Asian Pears from always make a wonderful addition to any meal!”

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

Try It Tuesday

2008-08-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

Once again I am writing about food for “Try It Tuesday”. See? I told you I love to eat. Anyone mentions “new product” and I immediately think of food. So, here we go again…..

This week’s food product is in the dessert family. I do love my sweets and, as my hips can attest, cakes, cookies, pies, candy, ice cream, etc. etc. are all very high on my list of favorites. I’m perfectly willing to eat “healthy” sweets but the reality is, generally speaking, no matter how much I try to tell myself otherwise, they just don’t taste as good. I love fruit, but not as much as chocolate cake. I adore sweet, creamy, low fat yogurts, but not as much as ice cream – REAL ice cream. I think Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches are great, but not as great as a Haagen Daz bar…..You get the idea. I truly love sweets and the low fat, low calorie substitutes rarely satisfy me for long.

So, the other day I was shopping at Costco (I do LOVE that store) and I was wandering around in the frozen food section when I noticed this box:

I took it out of the frozen food case, eyeballed the calories and decided I would give it a try. I’m always TRYING to be good. It’s just so damn hard!

I truly do have a love affair with ice cream going on. Any type, any variety, any flavor and I’m there. I love it especially in the blazing heat of summer, and, since the average daily temperature where I live is 100°+ on a daily basis throughout the summer, there is lots of ice cream consumption going on around here. I not only love the sweet and creamy chocolates and vanillas and strawberries by the ½ gallon, I also like sherberts and sorbets, bars and cones, sandwiches and patties, and pretty much anything that qualifies as cold and sweet.

So when I picked up this box of sorbets I was intrigued on a couple of levels. First of all it’s in the ice cream family which means it’s cold and sweet; second it is quite low in calories; and then, to top off my interest, it has a “gimmick” in that the servings are presented to you in the shells of the fruit they represent. Coconut shell, pineapple husk, orange rind, mango skin, etc. So I bought it and brought it home.

My family was less than enthused ‘cause unless the ice cream carton says “caramel praline delight” or “oreo cookies and cream” or the like, they are not interested. However, I was very interested and proceeded to immediately open the box and try my first sorbet.

The first one came out of the box looking like this:

I was all ready to like it just because it’s so cute, but surprise! I liked it because it tasted so good! Rich and smooth and creamy with a great pineapple taste.

As I write this, I’m sitting here with a coconut shell in front of me and it’s filled with yet another smooth and creamy ice cream treat. This time it’s a wonderful coconut flavor that I am enjoying.

These treats are really tasty, very different, low in calories and fun to eat. Give them a try!!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-13T00:12:00.001-07:00

Try Those Chicken Patties!

2008-08-12T07:03:00.000-07:00

I love to eat! To anyone that knows me this is not a revelation. The problem is that I love to eat wonderful tasting, fully satisfying, delicious food and, more often than not, that means the food in question is fattening. Since I am a chronic Weight Watcher, this is a problem for me.

Therefore, when I find something that is indeed fully satisfying and delicious AND, as an extra added bonus, it’s not overly fattening, I am a very happy camper. I have found just such a food and I’m here today to tell you about it.

We eat a LOT of chicken at my house, simply because as a WW queen, chicken and fish are better for me than a good rib eye steak. As a result, I’m always looking for new and interesting ways to prepare or buy chicken.It’s not enough that the chicken tastes good and is low in fat and calories, it has to be easy to fix too or I’m not real interested. I do like to cook, but somehow, the older I get, the more I like to make reservations instead of making dinner.

Therefore, when I saw this package, I stopped and gave it a second look. The lady was cooking up the patties (Costco is famous for their samples) and offered me a bite. I gave it the sniff test (it smelled great) and then read the box…….
Hmmmmm, chicken….already cooked….full of veges…..just brown and serve….I’m trying it. And Omigod, it was wonderful!! I mean truly write home to mother, skip around the room, dance a little jig, wonderful. It is tasty and juicy and satifying, well-seasoned and flavorful, and I just can’t rave enough about it. I immediately threw a box into my cart and made a note that we now have a new chicken staple at my house.

It is extra good grilled over charcoal or just spray a little Pam in the frying pan and toss in your patty. It can also be cooked in the microwave, but I like a little brown on my meat, if you know what I mean! Brown it up, hot it up and you are good to go. Nuke a little baked potato and some steamed fresh veges or throw together a nice salad (or both) and you have dinner in just a very few minutes. We also like to take these patties and make delicious hot chicken sandwiches. They too are wonderful!

They are conveniently packaged in twos, and they come in a box of 8 patties all ready to pop in the freezer. I bought these at Costco but I saw the same patties under a different brand name at Trader Joe’s. Haven’t tried the Trader Joe version yet, but they look very similar. If you don’t have either of these stores in your town, ask your super market manager to order and carry this product. You’ll like it!!

Try it Tuesday

2008-08-07T10:52:00.001-07:00

I haven’t posted in quite a long while but my sister has started a new “thing” over on her blog called “Try it Tuesday”. Since I’m always trying new things, I thought I’d join in and tell you about some of the products that I have discovered that have served me well.

Today I’d like to tell you about a moisturizing cream that I have found that is simply the best thing since sliced bread. I have always suffered with dry skin. I mean REALLY dry skin, with cracking and splitting and flakes and itching and pain and aggravation. I’m sure part of this is caused by the fact that I live in a climate with 0% humidity and average temps of over 100 every day for 4 or 5 months a year. To say it is hot and dry in this part of the world would be a minor understatement. I also imagine I just have a natural tendency to have dry skin. We all have our issues.

I think I have tried about every moisturizer in the marketplace from the common brands of lotion you buy at Wal-Mart to the Bath and Body lotions in the mall and the specialty items specifically made for problem skin. All of them helped to some degree but nothing really cured the problem. Just made it feel better for a while and then back to dry, itchy skin.

And then one day I found it……Nirvana! I came across the website for Origins products. I can’t recall exactly how I got to their website the first time but I think I saw a magazine ad for some interesting sounding “body soufflé”. Since I’m always a sucker for trying a new cream, lotion or moisturizer of some kind, I ordered a jar. It was VERY expensive (at least to me) and I thought along the lines of “it better make my skin feel like soft, sleek, expensive, silk for that price”, and guess what? It does! However, the body soufflé, which is truly wonderful, is, surprisingly, not what this post is about.

With each order of Origins body soufflé that I receive, they always send me a sample of one of their other products. A few months ago they sent me a sample of something called “A Perfect World” described as “intensely hydrating body cream with white tea”. Anything that is “intensely hydrating” means it’s immediately going on my hands. My hands are my biggest problem when it comes to dryness. They crack and split at the tips of my fingers, usually right at the edge of my nails, and it is EXTREMELY painful. My entire hands are always dry no matter what product I have used, but my fingertips are the worst.

So I took the sample tube of “A Perfect World” and I slathered it on my hands daily for the few days that the small tube lasted. It was wonderful! Rich and creamy and it immediately soaked right into my skin, not just sitting on the top as many products do. By the end of the tube, I was hooked and I ordered a jar. Now, several jars later, I can honestly say that this is the best moisturizing product I have EVER used on my hands. My hands are soft and normally moist, not dry at all, and best of all, no cracked fingertips!! I can’t remember the last time I had a bad split or crack on the tip of my fingers. I just don’t get them anymore. This is truly a wonderful, fantastic hand cream. I put it on generously every night at bed time and that’s it. No more problem hands. Try it, you’ll like it!!

100 Things About Me

2008-04-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

My niece did the "100 things about me" list in her blog and, for some reason, it inspired me, so I decided to do it too. I really don’t have time to do this but when inspiration strikes, one must answer, so here goes.

1. I am an animal lover. (I know you couldn’t tell this by the header on my blog)

2. My first dog was a fox terrier named Penny

3. Next dog was a German Shepherd named Rex.

4. Next was a boxer named Champ. (Don’t you love the original names?)

5. Next was a dachshund named Heidi. Heidi was the start of something big for then there was Fritz, her husband, and then Gretchen and Hans, their kids, etc. etc. I still love weenie dogs.

6. After the little guys, I went large and furry and had Norwegian Elkhounds. The first was Misty. Her husband was Ricky and their daughter was Twinkle. Much loved but extremely hairy dogs. I decided the next time around I was going with short hair.

7. So then I got a Golden Retriever mix, Samantha. What happened to the short hair plan? I’m not sure. Along with Samantha we had Gracie, a black Lab mix and Terri, a terrier mix. Those were the mixed breed, rescue dog years.

8. Then one day I saw a Chocolate Lab puppy that belonged to someone else. And I thought, that is the cutest puppy I have ever seen in my entire life. When I have an opening at my house, I’m gonna get one.

9. And so I did. Her name was Bess. The most beautiful Chocolata girl you can imagine. We lost her at age 6 to cancer. It broke my heart.

10. When Bess was two years old we got Lucy, her niece. When we learned we were going to lose Bess, for Lucy’s sake, we got another chocolate girl. Bess and Lucy had been bonded at the hip. Bess’ death hit Lucy really hard. The new pup’s name was Meggie and she is a precious little girl. She drug Lucy out of her depression and sadness and, over time, they have become best friends.

11. Today we have our two Chocolate Girls and they are the sweetest babies in the world. I now know that I am a Lab woman. This is my breed. Best dogs in the world. I will always have Labs for the rest of my life.

12. Since I am an animal lover, as I said above, through the years we’ve also had numerous cats and a few birds. Current feline resident is Alice, a Siamese mix who is 14 years old. No more birds.

13. I am a college professor and I love it. However, I am a teacher by default. I didn’t choose this profession, it chose me.

14. For many years I worked in healthcare. I went back to college, got all kinds of fancy degrees and then planned to return to healthcare, but they didn’t want me. Too old. Of course, they couldn’t say that, but that was the reason. So through a friend, I started teaching. Best thing that ever happened to me. I love my job.

15. I don’t make much money. Thank God for my hard working, money making partner. She keeps us in the style to which we have both become very accustomed.

16. I love to travel. I’ve been in most of the 50 states and a few different countries as well.

17. My last trip was to Europe. We went on a Mediterranean cruise.

18. I love cruising. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace, just put me on a cruise ship.

19. However, I freely admit that I am spoiled. I must have my suite on the ship with lots of room. The days of a cabin where I can stand in the middle of the room and touch both walls are not happening.

20. I love my computer.

21. I don’t much like exercise but I’m doing it. It’s extremely annoying to realize that after I do something that I don’t like, I feel better.

22. I’m a Weight Watcher. It’s chronic. Don’t know if I’ll ever be able to be a normal eater. I just like eating way too much.

23. I have three siblings and they are all very dear to me. I’m the oldest and was always the babysitter when we were little. I was occasionally mean as hell to them. I’m surprised they forgave me. Teenagers really can be horrible.

24. I love to read. Read regular books and audio books constantly. Always have 2 or 3 going at the same time.

25. I recently bought an Amazon Kindle. I now carry dozens of books around with me all the time.

26. I love to gamble. We’re heading to Las Vegas this coming weekend. Wa-Hoo!!

27. I’m a golfer. I play regularly. It’s one of the joys of my life.

28. I was a jock when I was young. Unlike my niece and my sister, I played sports from the time I was old enough to grasp the concept. Softball and basketball mostly. I was a star on the softball field and I’ve got the old clippings to prove it. MVP, pitched a no hitter, home run champ, etc. etc. I was not so spectacular at basketball, just average.

29. I have learned that you pay for the athletic sins of your youth when you get older.

30. I have arthritis and it’s a pain. Particularly in my knees.

31. I may need knee replacement surgery one day, but I hope not.

32. I had a doctor botch a surgery once and I ended up with a ruptured Achilles tendon. He almost crippled me. I was in a wheelchair for a while. You never really appreciate how hard that is until you’re in that position. Fortunately, I’m a very good healer. I sued him and lost. You rarely win a lawsuit against a doctor in the State of California. Just doesn’t happen.

33. I lived in China for two years when I was an adolescent. Not on the mainland, but on the island of Formosa, today known as Taiwan.

34. My Dad was a career Marine. We lost him about 1½ years ago. I believe I will always miss him until the end of my life.

35. I look so much like my Mom that it’s ridiculous. We even have the same ailments.

36. I drive a Dodge Grand Caravan. No kids, but my dogs like all that space.

37. I once had a daughter named Gina. She died tragically at the age of 28. Drugs.

38. I liked being a parent and am sad that I’ll never be a grandparent.

39. I’m very close to several of my nieces and enjoy being a great aunt.

40. I was an only child for 7½ years. It was a bit of a shock to suddenly start sharing my parents with the newcomer.

41. I was a teenager when my youngest brother was born. He seemed more like my child than my sibling. I loved the little devil greatly and still do.

42. My Mom is one of my best friends.

43. Once upon a time, in another life, I was in the Army for about 6 months. They kicked me out because I had no sense and no discretion. At age 18 I was truly an idiot of the first magnitude. Why do teenagers think they know so much when they are, in reality, so incredibly stupid??

44. I moved to California when I was 19 years old and have been here ever since. A long, long, long time. Well, maybe not that long, but a good while.

45. Three of us came to California together and when we arrived, we had $19 between us. We also had Heidi the dachshund and all our worldly belongings in a U-Haul trailer.

46. I shop lifted food after we arrived. That $19 didn’t go very far. It was okay for me to go hungry, but God Forbid my dog should suffer. I stole dog food.

47. My first job in California paid $1.25 per hour. It was a good salary.

48. When I arrived in California gasoline cost about .30 cents a gallon.

49. We did our week’s grocery shopping for about $25.00. I once found a $5 bill in the parking lot of the grocery store and it meant we had steaks that week.

50. Our rent on our first house was $97.50 per month. In hindsight, I wonder, why the 50 cents?

51. One of our threesome bought and drove a brand new Chevrolet to California. It cost $3000.

52. I am so dating myself with this information.

53. I tried skiing once. Not my sport. I caught my ski on the ground as the lift was leaving and snapped it in two. I had to ride all the way up and all the way down with my broken, dangling ski. Everybody at the resort knew I was an idiot.

54. On the same ski trip, Gina put on her first pair of skis, took a lesson and within 30 minutes she was zooming down the mountain. It definitely made me feel my age.

55. I worked at the same job for 25 years. We had no pension plan. Not the smartest move I ever made. Who thinks about retirement when you’re 30 years old? Now I know. I should have thought about it when I was 20 years old and never stopped thinking about it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Too bad we can’t go back and get a do-over.

56. I once bought a ring off someone on the street and I TOTALLY believed it was a diamond. It was, of course, a piece of glass. It is truly amazing how gullible one can be.

57. I don’t have many friends, but the ones I have are close and true. One of the gals I came to California with almost 45 years ago is still a dear friend. After that many years, she is like another sister.

58. I am very lucky in that some of my very best friends are family members. We’ll always be together.

59. I have an “if I’m paralyzed-nose picking pact” with those same dear, close, family members/friends. It doesn’t get any closer than that.

60. One of my very closest, dearest friends is a guy. I never thought that could happen, but it can.

61. I’m very handy with tools and pretty good at fixing things.

62. I’m working on writing a book. Don’t know if I’ll make it to the finish line, but I’m trying.

63. I’m taking writing classes online. I’m learning a lot.

64. I’ve learned that the majority of the general public are not very bright.

65. I’ve also learned that I’m really quite intelligent. This sounds conceited, but it’s true. I’m a smart cookie.

66. I always wanted to be a veterinarian. Unfortunately, that’s one of those dreams that it’s hard to capture after a certain age.

67. I graduated from college #1 in my class.

68. I’m quite a cynic. Buy enough glass rings and you get that way.

69. I’ve learned that most people can’t add and subtract. Take away their computer at the take out window or the fast food counter and those kids will have absolutely no clue how much change to give you.

70. I can add really fast, hence, I’m a very good blackjack player. I do love me some “21”.

71. I’ve recently gotten hooked on Keno machines. It’s the only game in the casino that for $1 you can win $7000. The odds are high but I keep winning the smaller stuff repeatedly. One of these days…………

72. I cook for my dogs. I cook a huge quantity and freeze it. I don’t trust dog food manufacturers since they killed thousands of our pets last year. Chemicals, preservatives, crap food……not for my babies.

73. I’m going to teach summer school this year. I’m sharing the chore with another teacher and between the sharing, online work, and a short semester, I only have to show up at school 6 times and I will have worked the entire semester. This is a cool way to earn extra money.

74. I handle the money at my house. I’m good at budgeting.

75. I’m a good cook and I like to cook. Hence, Weight Watchers.

76. I’m a strong swimmer. I used to work as a lifeguard.

77. I was a brownie and a girl scout. I earned “thousands” of patches. Such an overachiever.

78. I’m a lousy housekeeper. I’m perfectly capable and can do a good job when I want to, but I’d much rather go play golf. I hire a house keeper.

79. I’m an E-bay seller who hasn’t sold on E-bay in a very long time. Not sure why. I have tons of merchandise in my garage. It’s stupid not to be selling.

80. I’m going on vacation to Pensacola, Florida this year with my family. We have rented a house at the beach, right on the water. Can’t wait.

81. I love chocolate.

82. I make a mean pot of spaghetti.

83. I can’t sing, sad to say. I do it anyway, but it’s not a pretty thing.

84. I’m an excellent driver. Never had a wreck that was MY fault. I’ve been rear-ended and had people turn right smack into the path of my car. If I should die in a car wreck, I guarantee you that someone else will have caused it. I think about these kinds of things since I drive the wild and crazy freeways of L.A. on a regular basis.

85. I get lost very easily. I learned to read a map when I was 18 and I have developed a sense of direction over the years, but I still get lost. I love MapQuest, except when they screw up the directions.

86. I’ve had a lot of different jobs before arriving at my current profession. Among other things I sold linens in a department store, worked for the Air Pollution Control people here in L.A.County, worked as a veterinary assistant, worked as a temp clerk, worked as a waitress, worked in a factory making Travel-Go-Lightly travel cases, worked for an insurance company, worked as a clerk typist for numerous people, worked for a trucking company, and then one day, I got a job at Kaiser Hospital. I had, via a long and circuitous route, arrived at healthcare and I never left. Now I teach it.

87. My favorite movie is Gone With The Wind. Saw it the first time at age 12. Classic.

88. I love to shop online. You can find anything if you’re persistent enough.

89. I like country music.

90. I watch way too much television.

91. Thanks to my sister, I am now hooked on Gilmore Girls. Netflix is my new best friend.

92. We are also watching Six Feet Under. Never saw it when it was actually on TV, so we are now loving it via Netflix. I can’t believe Lisa died. I was horror struck.

93. We are huge American Idol fans. Great group this time around. I just love that David Archuleta kid. (as does the rest of America) He is just so incredibly cute and unbelievably talented. So many of them are so good. Not sure who I want to win.

94. I can’t wait until July when The Closer starts up their new season. I love that show. Thank God for DVRs.

95. Speaking of which, I LOVE my DVR. It has to be the best invention since television.

96. I am SO glad that the writer’s strike is over. We seriously missed our TV shows.

97. I’m not sure who I want to win the presidential election. I have issues with all of them.

98. When I was a kid my Mom seriously limited my Oreos consumption. She wouldn’t let me be a pig. Good Mom. When I was an adult, I ate an entire bag by myself and got sick. Mom was right.

99. I'm still working to master portion control. When I like it, I want a LOT of it.

100. We got our first television set in 1953. My sister was born in 1953. I’m not sure which was the bigger event to me.

So there you have it. My "100 things about me" post. Not sure who will be remotely interested, but it was fun to write. Enjoy!

2008-03-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

Testing

A New Years Meme

2008-01-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

Hello, one and all. The absent blogger has returned for the moment. I felt like writing and since no brilliant inspiration has come instantly to mind, I am stealing this meme from my sister’s blog and answering the questions for myself. So, just in case you didn’t know these things about me (or just in case you care) here’s some “interesting” info about me and mine over the past year:

What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? Went to Europe. Went to places I’ve never been and saw sights I’ve never seen. It was a revelation. I’m not sure what I expected, but it was so similar to being here only just a bit different. Different languages, narrower streets, strange flush mechanisms on their toilets, but in essence, people are people. Not much difference.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I learned quite a long time ago that, for me, New Year’s resolutions are a waste of time. I don’t keep the resolution so why bother? Each year I try to do some things better than the year before, e.g. weight loss, but no actual resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes, my nephew had a beautiful little girl and my niece is about to become a mother via adoption.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Not this year. My dad passed away last October.

5. What countries did you visit? Italy, Croatia, Spain, Tunisia, Portugal, Mexico.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? An e-reader. I currently have a bid on one on eBay. I love the idea of carrying 200 books around with me in the palm of my hand. I can read anything, anytime, anywhere. I carry thousands of songs in my Ipod, why not hundreds of books in my e-reader? Makes sense to me.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? November 20. This is the day we left on our BIG trip. Our European vacation was definitely the highlight of the year.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Winning grant money from my University to enhance my work. I have to work anyway, why not get paid extra money to make the work more fulfilling?

9. What was your biggest failure? Not losing as much weight as I would like. Not staying in shape.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Not sure if my arthritis qualifies as an illness and therefore an answer to this question, however, assuming it does, my knees have gotten considerably worse this year. Knee replacement surgery is definitely on the horizon in the not too distant future.

11. What was the best thing you bought? A new laptop for The Spouse for her birthday. She LOVES it and I like making people happy.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Mrs. John Edwards. Despite the return of her breast cancer, she has supported and encouraged her husband to run for the presidency. Now THAT’s spousal support. She’d make a helluva first lady. I hope she gets a chance to give it a shot.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I assume, as I did with the last question, that we are talking about a public figure. With that in mind, I must say that Brittany Spears appalls me with her behavior. She doesn’t depress me because I don’t know her, so I don’t really care enough to be depressed. But as a public figure, a mother, a singer, and a supposed “teen idol” she is a mighty poor excuse for a person.

14. Where did most of your money go? To pay the bills that maintain a lifestyle and keep us fed, clothed, sheltered and entertained. We saved some, but unfortunately not near as much as we should have.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Generally speaking, I don’t get “really, really, really” excited about much of anything. However, I did get pretty fired up about our European trip and cruise this year.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? I am truly horrible about remembering song lyrics and the names of songs. I know what I like when I hear it on the radio, but other than that, I’m hopeless. Therefore, I have no answer for this question.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? Happier. Time really does help those wounds of loss. One year and three months ago I lost my Dad and a beloved dog. Therefore, at this time last year, I was still seriously grieving. Today, I’m learning to live with it. Do I have a choice?

b) thinner or fatter? Thinner by about 25 pounds. It should be about 50 but I’m not a good dieter. I love to eat too much. I’ll go back to my WW meetings when I return to California and get back on the weight loss path. (I’m currently visiting my Mom back East)

c) richer or poorer? A little richer. It would help if the stock market would stop going up and down like a damn yoyo.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Eating right. I really do wish I were 50+ pounds lighter rather than 25. My knees could use the relief.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Being lazy, as in watching TV, reading, playing golf, movies, napping etc. etc. I got really behind in grading papers and doing my schoolwork and I really paid for it at semester end. I had a non-stop grading marathon during Finals week. I won’t do that again. If too much work makes Johnny a dull boy, then too much play makes Johnny an idiot for not getting his work done.

20. How did you spend Christmas? With family and friends on both coasts. First one and then the other. I’m a lucky girl.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007? Nope. Already there. Don’t need to fall again.

22. What was your favorite TV program? Like my sister, we are also TV nuts at my house. We truly love “The L Word” and are thrilled that it is returning this Sunday. We have really missed Bette and Tina and the gang. They are our kind of people even though they definitely seem a bit higher on both the social and financial scale than we’ll ever be. However, it’s nice to dream. Since I am away from home and have no access to Showtime, I was beyond pleased and happy to discover that Sunday’s premiere episode is available on line NOW. This is the 5th year of the series and the characters remain as real and true as my next door neighbor. I may not BE these people, but I KNOW these people in my life. If you decide to check it out, be aware that it is an R rated program with plenty of sex, although the online version has cut out the f--- word. Also be aware that this is a very serialized show and if you don’t know what’s going on, it’s because we are 5 years into the adventure! (The first 4 seasons are available on DVD)

I could truly go on and on about TV because, as I said we are big fans. But at a glimpse, some favorite shows are Dexter, Grey’s Anatomy, Journeyman, The Closer, Bones, Brothers and Sisters, Desperate Housewives, The Amazing Race, Heroes, Big Love, Damages, Mad Men, Men in Trees, My Boys, Nip/Tuck, Private Practice, The Riches, The Tudors……see what I mean? BIG TV fans.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? No hating. A few dislikes, but no hating.

24. What was the best book you read? My sister is right. That’s a tough one as I read a lot. I discovered Harry Bosch, the detective, this year and I consider that a great find. So I’ll go with Michael Connelly and all the Harry Bosch Novels – The Black Echo, The Black Ice, The Concrete Blonde, etc. etc. etc.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? No big musical discoveries that I can recall, but remember me? I’m the one who never knows the name of a song, never knows who’s singing it or what the lyrics are. I only hum along and think “gee, I like that song.”

26. What did you want and get? A small thing, but then I’m easily pleased. A pair of Merrell Primo Chill clogs in red. Got them from OMAS for Christmas.

27. What did you want and not get? A lottery win. Sorry to sound greedy but we’re ready to make the move across the country to the family stomping grounds. We’ve been outcasts in the Far West long enough. However, everything is about money with a move like that and we just don’t have it. Not old enough to retire, not enough money to move across the country and start again with new jobs, not old enough for Medicare, not enough money to buy individualized health insurance, etc. etc. And then, of course, the lovely housing crunch. Perfect time to buy, lousy time to sell. Money, money, money. It really does make the world go 'round.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? Sometimes having such a terrible memory is a real pain in the ass. I can barely remember what movies I saw this year but I think my favorite was “The Bourne Ultimatum.”

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Like my sister, I also have no memory so I don’t know what I did on my birthday. Since my birthday fell on a Thursday, we probably did nothing as The Spouse works on that night. Most likely we went out to dinner and a movie on the following weekend. As to age, I’m old enough to know better and young enough not to care. I do it anyway, whatever “it” may be.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Less work for my spouse. She works way, way too hard.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? I wear what I like, what’s suitable to my body type and what’s comfortable. If others don’t like it, tough. A fashionista, I’m not.

32. What kept you sane? Good question and hard to answer. My sweet hounds, my home, My Spouse, OMAS, Mom, my work, etc. etc. Lots of things keep me grounded and sane.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? If by “fancy the most” you mean “like the most”, I’ll go with Leisha Hailey from The L Word.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? The presidential election.

35. Who did you miss? My wonderful Dad and dear, sweet, Bess.

36. Who was the best new person you met? Interesting people from my work life. Can’t name just one.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. People are people no matter what country they live in. We all hurt, we all cry, we all love. Everybody understands a smile no matter what language they speak.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. Can’t do it. Reread #16.

And that’s the end of this meme. Feel free to copy it and put it in your blog with your answers and thanks for reading.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

World's Worst Blogger

2007-12-20T13:22:00.000-08:00

I am officially “The World’s Worst Blogger”. This is my new title. Why? Because I don’t post regularly, because I forget to post at all, because I’m busy doing lots of other things that seem more important than blogging, because I do 15 other things before I get around to writing, because I’m constantly writing in my head but rarely writing on the paper, because I’d rather go play golf than blog, because I’d rather READ blogs than write in MY blog, etc. etc. etc.

However, our family blogs have become a really great way for us to keep in touch with one another, to keep track of the day to day mundane stuff that all our lives are made up of, to follow the big events and share the joys, to understand our loved ones and their inner feelings better. I must know about Sarah’s curls and Jenn’s new daughter and Jan’s dependence on her husband and her TV viewing habits. I’ve come to know my sister-in-law better by reading her blog and I’ve had strangers become virtual friends through this phenomenon of writing about our lives online. Therefore, blogging is an important component of my life, and so here I am, back again. Sorry I’ve been gone. I’ve actually missed you. Don’t ask me why I’ve been doing 100 other things besides blogging…..I have no rational answer. Just enjoy me because I’m here now.

We’ve been home from our BIG trip for 2 weeks now. The regular routines of our everyday life have returned. The jet lag has been conquered and I now sleep at night and stay up during the day. For a while our time schedules were truly screwed up. I was so incommunicado that my friends were worried about me. All I did was sleep for several days. They actually CALLED as opposed to sending an email, since, in this highly unusual situation, I wasn’t answering my email. How very computer dependent my life has become. I email everyone. A phone call now seems a bit out of the norm. The 9 hours difference in our time and European time made a very large impact on us. But now things seem to be back to normal and this is good.

Soon, life will tilt again for I’m packing again. Heading home to see my Mom. At least this time though, I’ll stay in the country and the time difference is only 3 hours. I’ll leave next week, after Christmas with my family. I’m anxious to go. Anxious to hug my Mom and see her and once again know that she is safe and sound. But I’m not looking forward to traveling again so soon. But such is life. I need to see Mom more frequently now. Since losing Dad, I find myself worrying way too much about the possibility of losing her. That is the natural order of things. But I can’t imagine having no living parents. I’m one of the lucky ones. I had a grandmother living and loving me until I was in my 50’s. I had both parents until I was in my 60’s. Now, I have just my Mom. I need to touch base with her frequently. That’s just the way it is.

I stopped blogging during our trip due to connection issues at the end of our ship days and then due to electrical problems while we were in Portugal. We KNEW the electrical voltage was different and we had all the right equipment with us to make the necessary conversions and power up our laptops, but somehow nothing worked right. We got new electrical stuff from the hotel, bought some stuff at the Portugese version of a Wal-Mart Superstore and still nothing worked right. We finally gave up and just waited until we got home to power up both laptops and return to our computer oriented world.

When I stopped writing on vacation, we had just left Malaga and were sailing towards Cadiz, Spain. The port of Cadiz is about 60 miles from the Spanish city of Seville and that’s where we were heading. We had booked a full day of touring and were planning to tour and shop and see the sights. Definitely a day to run and see and do until you drop. And we did.

We boarded a “motor coach” (why can’t they just say it’s a bus?) and, along with 58 other ship’s passengers, we headed for Seville. I had the window seat and my overriding impression of the Spanish countryside, the thought that kept echoing through my head, was “this place looks like home”. And indeed it does. Spain looks like California. Lots of shades of brown, some green, the gently rolling countryside, the stucco houses, the red tile roofs…..I felt like I was home. No wonder The Spouse loves Spain so well. Of all the countries we visited, so far, Spain is easily my favorite. Of course, there are many more countries to see and explore in future trips. But, for now, Spain is a favorite. We will, sometime in the future, fly to Barcelona and vacation there. The Spouse has always wanted to do this. Now I see why. We’ll go in the years to come.

I took California history in college and I can now see clearly why, a few hundred years ago, Spain immediately seized on the west coast, what is now modern day California and Mexico, and made it their own. They saw home when they looked at our countryside. The trail of missions in our state going from the Mexican border all the way to Oregon, are replicas of the churches and chapels that we saw in Spain. We went to a castle where the ceramic tile work, the flowery wrought iron designs, and the building styles have all been replicated in downtown Los Angeles. You want to see a piece of Spain? Go to Olvera Street in L.A. Yes, it’s Mexican, but it’s also Spain. Our buildings, our architecture, our homes, our churches, our countryside……we are the American version of Spain.

We went to the biggest church in Spain, one that is surrounded by no less than 45 chapels. We saw, again, tile work, the grave of Christopher Columbus, sculptures and statuary and stained glass windows that would make you hold your breath in awe. This was truly a magnificent place to behold. I’ll post some pictures below to give you a brief feel for what I’m describing.

We spent time in a large garden that represented some of the most beautiful plant life that Spain has to offer. Because of the time of year, not a lot was in bloom, but some was. Typical of Spain. Typical of California. Beautiful flowers in the middle of winter. There I had my first glimpse of a huge rubber tree. Unusual looking to say the least.

Our ship’s timing put us in Spain on a Sunday. For purposes of shopping this was an unfortunate thing. For purposes of sightseeing, it didn’t really matter. We walked the streets of Seville, watched the Spainards sitting in street side cafes sipping their espresso, did some window shopping and returned to the ship only to end up doing a bit of shopping right on the dock beside the ship. There are always some enterprising individuals who will find a way to sell no matter what.

I learned a lot of interesting things on our European adventure. I will share some of these interesting facts with you as I get back to writing on a regular basis.

1. They don’t have Diet Coke. They have Coca Cola Light. They serve it very cold out of the fridge. No ice. Most places don’t even have ice. If you ask for ice, if you get it, you get 3 cubes, maybe.

2. I can find out where the bathroom is in 5 different languages.

3. In Portugal, the government rigidly controls the gold trade. All items of gold are 19.2 karats of gold at a minimum. They scoff at our American 14k and think it is very low grade gold indeed.

4. Our American dollar is looked down on. The merchants don’t want it. They want Euros. Much more valuable. (you shouldn’t allow merchants to do your conversions anyway, but the very fact of our devalued dollar certainly makes me angry at the political powers in our country (Bush) that have allowed this to happen.)

5. Europeans, as a whole, are a much smaller people, physically speaking, than us super sized, overweight Americans. Chairs, beds, taxis, doorways, toilet seats, etc. etc. I realize I’m no lightweight, but even the average size 12-14 American woman would have some issues with the size of many common European commodities.

6. We bought no tee-shirts or sweatshirts or clothing in Europe. This is highly unusual. Need I say why?

7. Why in the hell do Europeans have square toilet seats? The corners poke the hell out of the back of fat American legs. Refer back to #5. Maybe that’s the answer. Also, why are so many toilets so low to the ground? These fat, arthritic, American knees just don’t bend that well. It was a big problem for me. Not that I’m fixated on toilets, but I never imagined there were so many ways to flush one. A button in the center of the tank, a box on the wall, a hanging chain, a spot on the floor, but never, at anytime, did I see what I considered to be a “normal” handle on the left or right side of the tank that would cause the toilet to flush. Clearly, the flushing of toilets has evolved somewhat differently on the different continents.

8. Europeans walk everywhere. I know you’ve heard this one before as it’s a common statement. However, it wasn’t really brought home to me until I was there. I mean they walk EVERYWHERE. They walk to work. They walk to the store. They walk to an appointment. We get in our cars to go a block. They do not.

9. I’ve never seen so many small and super small and micro sized cars in all of my life. I didn’t know cars could be made that small. The biggest vehicle I saw on the streets would fit in the backseat of one of our SUVs. We ARE gas guzzlers. But I must confess, I’m American to the bone. I love my big car with all its roominess. As intrigued as I am with cars that are the size of my Lazy Boy recliner, the idea of being in one of those things in a freeway crash, means I will never own one. We’re talking lizard versus dinosaur. I prefer to ride the dinosaur.

10. Lastly, for this go round, the people of Europe are much more energy conscious than we are. The car size thing above makes that obvious, but, also, our hotel rooms electrical system didn’t work until we turned it on (which I think had a lot to do with the computer problems), the water was ice cold until we consciously turned on the heater and made it hot, the thermostat was rigidly controlled and we did not have a lot of control over our room temperature. In restaurants, restroom lights have motion sensors. Nobody in there? No light. Definitely no hot water. Funny side note: I was in a closet sized restroom with the motion sensor light. As I sat quietly on the throne, the light went out. No motion, no light. I waved my arms wildly. The light went back on. More sitting. Light out. Wave arms. Light on. It actually would have been hilarious as a TV skit. I didn’t want to sit in a strange “water closet” in the dark.

Enough for this time. Here’s a few pictures until next we meet.

Remember the street drummers in Malaga? See here. This is a picture of them.

The courtyard at the castle

Some glorious tile work

More exceptional ceramics

The castle

In the courtyard

At the church, the original handcarved wooden doors are still there.

In the garden of the church. Oranges on the trees in November. It really is so like California.

And the flowers

The church from a distance. Note the huge size.

A rubber tree

On the Streets of Seville

Inside the church

Somehow this says shades of "The DaVinci Code"....not sure why.

Carrying Christopher Columbus to his grave

A Meme

2007-12-10T18:15:00.000-08:00

I'm catching up on my blog reading....at least trying to. I read numerous blogs and I've missed 3 weeks worth. I may never catch up. Anyway, my sister's blog has a meme and she tagged us all, so why not? I just finished creating a final exam and am currently resting so I'll meme my little heart out..............

FOODOLOGY

Q. What is your salad dressing choice? A. Balsamic vinegarette with garlic

Q. What is your favorite Fast Food Restaurant? A. Wendys

Q. What is your favorite sit down restaurant? A. Famous Daves BBQ

Q. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant? A. 15% usually

Q. What food could you eat for two weeks and not get sick of? A. Chocolate

Q. What is your favorite type of gum? A. Dentyne

TECHNOLOGY

Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer? A. Varies - either beach scenes or my dogs.

Q. How many televisions are in your house? A. 5

BIOLOGY
Q. What’s your best feature? A. My hair

Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body? A. appendix

Q. Which of your five senses do you think is keenest? A. Hearing

Q. When was the last time you had a cavity? A. A couple years

Q. What is the heaviest thing you’ve lifted? A. A very large dog

Q. Have you ever been knocked unconscious? A. No, but I've fainted and so was unconscious.

BULLSHITOLOGY

Q. If it were possible would you want to know the day you are going to die? A. Absolutely not. Would anyone??

Q. Is love for real? A. Of course

Q. If you would change your first name what would you change it to? A. Carole

Q. What colour do you think looks best on you? A. Bright colors like red, orange, royal blue, etc.

Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake? A. Yes. Bugs, part of a crown.

Q. Have you ever saved someone’s life? A. No

Q. Has someone ever saved yours? A. No

DAREOLOGY

Q. Would you walk naked for a half a mile down a public street for $100,000? A. Yes

Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? A. Silly question. Of course.

Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000? A. No!

Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000.00? A. Yes.

Q. Would you pose nude in a magazine for $250,000.00? A. Yes

Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000? A. No

Q. Would you, without fear of punishment take a human life for $1,000,000.00? A. Never.

Q. Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000.00? A. Yes, as long as there is a qualifier that I can use my DVD player and computer for entertainment purposes.

Q. Give up myspace for $30,000.00? A. Absolutely. Never use it!

DUMBOLOGY
Q. What is in your left pocket? A. A beautiful sterling silver pill box with a hunting dog/retriever carved into the silver. Got it in Portugal on this trip.

Q. Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie? A. Haven't seen it.

Q. Do you have hardwood floors or carpet in your house? A. Carpets and tile.

Q. Do you sit or stand in the shower? A. Stand normally. Have been known to sit on bad knee days.

Q. Could you live with roommates? A. Of course. We do have a roommate.

Q. How many pairs of flip-flops do you own? A. Depends on your definition. I have a lot of slides, sandals and clogs that are backless.

Q. Last time you had a run-in with the cops? A. Uh...never?

Q. What do you want to be when you grow up? A. I am grown up and enjoying it.

LASTOLOGY

Q. Last friend you talked to? A. Wendy. She called to see if we were home yet.

Q. Last person you called? A. Lane Bryant credit department. They are annoying me greatly with their stupidity.

RANDOMOLOGY

Q. First place you went this morning? A. To the bank. Unbelievably we came home from vacation with money. Put it back in the bank.

Q. What can you not wait to do? A. Nothing at the moment. I'm still recovering from my last big adventure.

Q. What’s the last movie you saw? A. Can't remember. It must have been thrilling.

Q. Are you a friendly person? A. Yes. But shy.

Picture Time!!

2007-12-10T16:35:00.000-08:00

I have not blogged for the last few days as I had connection problems in my last days on the ship and then we had electrical problems in Portugal. Dead computers, malfunctioning converters and the wrong voltage do not a blog writer make.

Anyway, we are now safely back at home in California. I will write more about the other places we visited and will, over time, post lots of pictures for you to see. Here's the first batch with location notations. More writing and pictures to come when Finals Week is not demanding all my time.

The Spouse in Seville, Spain. We were on tour and these are the grounds of a palace we visited.

The view from the lift as I climbed the hillside in Santorini, Greece.
Me on the Greek Isle of Santorini. We had just been dropped off at the dock. Our ship is in the background.

The island of Santorini, Greece. A view from the deck of the ship.

The fort looking over the harbor in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The "Amazing Race" players were there in Dubrovnik last night. It was very strange to see them in the very places we had just been.

The Spouse inside the walled Old City of Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik - one of the sights to be seen as we wandered the streets. An ancient church that had been there for many centuries.

Also, inside the walled city of Dubrovnik.

One of the narrow alleys between the buildings in Dubrovnik.

In the square as we entered the city of Dubrovnik. This gentleman was selling a little good luck charm tourist thingy. We resisted.

Our first sight of Dubrovnik from the ship. The gorgeous bridge is a relatively new addition to their landscape.

In Venice, Italy. Need I say more?

Me sitting in the square resting. Venice, Italy.

The front of the church in St. Mark's Square. Venice, Italy.

St. Mark's Square. Beside the Basilica. Venice, Italy. (note all the pigeons)

Euro Journals - 8

2007-12-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

I find it hard to believe that some people can be so irresponsible as to miss the ship’s sailing time. We have just pulled up anchor and are gliding out of the harbor at Malaga, Spain. As the ship pulled away from the dock, a car came tearing down the embarcadero, lights flashing and horn blaring……but it was too late we were already underway.

As we watched, the automobile passengers leaped out of the car wildly waving their arms and we could hear faint yelling as we pulled further and further away. As the irresponsible passengers slowly became little “ants” in the distance, we saw them hire a boat, then leap onto it. The speedy little motor boat pulled up to the side of the big passenger liner as we left the harbor, and the two errants made a nerve wracking leap in order to board the ship. They made it, albeit by the very skin of their teeth.

I don’t think of myself as all that conservative and rule abiding, however, I can assure you that there has never been a time that I have ever even been close to missing a sailing time. We sailed at 6 PM. By 4:30 we were in our cabin and enjoying an afternoon nap. I just can’t imagine pushing a serious deadline that close……..

As I mentioned, we have spent the day in Malaga, Spain and what a charming city this is. It is a large, beautiful, modern city with clean streets, pleasant citizens, an impossibly large number of stores and a long and fascinating history. In truth, we saw very little of this place and that, of course, is the problem with cruise travel. You only get the tiniest taste of the culture and civilization at a particular port and then you are off and running again. This is both a good and bad thing and I’m not coming down on either side of that issue. We just love cruising.

As we walked the streets today, a large and loud group of drummers paraded through those same packed streets. There were mobs of people, since there were 3 cruise ships in port, plus it is Saturday afternoon and the locals were out in force. The drummers were all dressed in red and beating on all different sized drums. The rhythm of their drumming reverberated through the streets and we found that the loud, pounding, beat entered our head and we soon found ourselves almost skipping along to the unbelievably loud noise. The sound was hypnotic in it’s rhythm.

We stopped at a tapas bar and had snacks and drinks as we rested from our walking. Tapas is a small snack and having a taste of this and a bite of that is the way they eat in this part of the world. Fresh baked bread with a dab of this on it or a crispy cracker with a dab of that on it, etc. etc. It was interesting. One of The Spouse’s snacks turned out to be raw salmon and she was not happy. She is not a sushi girl at all.

The told us before we left the ship that everything would close up at 2:30 PM for siesta and then reopen at 5 PM. We thought they were probably exaggerating when they said “everything”, however, at 2:30 PM the doors to the shops slammed shut, the wire cage fronts slid down over the glass display windows and every shop closed up tight. Then all the Spaniards went home and took a nap. It was a strange concept to us overworked Americans. Many of the food establishments stayed open but our shopping was done for the day. An interesting custom………….

The Spouse and I are both half-sick as we try to fight off colds. We went to a drugstore in town and through pantomime we managed to purchase some cough medicine and throat lozenges. When I saw the “Vicks” brand name on the package, I knew we were on the right track even though all the words on the box were in Spanish. Good old Vicks. It’s the universal symbol of a cold, stuffy noise or bad cough.

We didn’t buy much at this port, just one Christmas present. Instead, we walked the streets, admiring the city and its people, and just soaked up some of the ambiance of Spain. It seems to be a warm, gracious and friendly country. Tomorrow we are going to Seville and we’ll be on an all day tour. We expect to see and learn quite a bit more about this country than we did today. I’ll tell you about the tour after it happens. It should be interesting.

As a follow-up note, every person we’ve talked to about their day in Tunis has said that they should have stayed on the ship. They have universally felt the stop was a bad choice. They were hassled and pushed by overly aggressive vendors who would not take no for an answer. The women were “touched” constantly and they all hated it and everybody we talked with wishes they had followed our lead. It does appear that we made a wise decision when we opted not to go ashore at that port. A couple of our tablemates felt they had extraordinarily good food for lunch, however, that was the only positive note we heard about Tunisia. Even the ship’s workers, who are an exceedingly international, adventure seeking, group of young people, all felt that they did not want to go back there. They simply didn’t feel safe and they saw nothing to buy or to eat that made it worth the risk of visiting. The African continent, with its large and varied population, just doesn’t seem overly popular with cruise ship passengers. At least not on this ship.

Many people, including The Spouse, were severely disappointed when the ship’s itinerary changed and the planned stop at Morocco was cancelled. However, when the Captain was asked why, his reply was very simple. “It’s not safe.” Cruise ship passengers are being mugged and threatened and treated badly and we will not take people who travel with us to any port we don’t think is safe. I believe Tunis will soon be added to their list of undesirable ports.

Well, that’s it for today. Time to get cleaned up and dressed and ready for the evening’s activities. More to come.

To be continued…………………

Euro Journals - 7

2007-11-29T09:28:00.001-08:00

We are docked at the edge of the African continent, in the port city of Tunis, Tunisia. I have learned that the modern day city of Tunis was originally the ancient city of Carthidge. That’s the Carthidge that you read about in history books wherein the Carthigenians and the Romans were frequently at war over something or other. Rome is on one side of this large body of water and Tunis is on the other.

The city of Tunis has been overrun and conquered and ruled by many. The Romans, the Phoenicians, the Berbers, the Arabs, the Turks and the French, dating all the way back to the 2nd century. It is full of mosques, palaces, mausoleums and fountains. It is a culturally rich, modern day, Muslim city, complete with Roman ruins, charming colonial-era architecture and a boisterous central bazaar. It appears to be a fascinating place.

From our balcony we could see the spires of the mosques, we could hear the sing song, high pitched chanting call to worship as the city kneeled and prayed several times today and we watched the sun glinting off the buildings. As we pulled into port, there was a small three man band and several belly dancers on the pier welcoming us to their city. The sound of the drums, the castanets and the very loud, hypnotic, snake charming, style horn pulled us out of bed at 8 AM and over to the balcony to find out what the noise was. With binoculars we saw the city streets, the cars, the people and it all looked so normal.

And yet, we opted to stay on board ship. We didn’t get off here and stroll the streets and bazaars, browse in the many small shops, and soak in the culture of another world. My feelings are very mixed about our decision.

Am I wise and intelligent or am I a coward? Did I do the smart thing or did I behave stupidly because of fear? I don’t know the answer to that question. I only know that our bartender, our table waiter, our sweet and friendly young assistant waiter, our room steward, our blackjack dealer and numerous other passengers that we have chatted with all warned us to be extra careful at this port of call.

Why? Because we are American woman traveling without a man in a Muslim country. We are targets. Prime targets. As American women, we are extremely desirable as objects of potential kidnapping and we are considered rich because we are cruise ship passengers. We were warned to hang on to our valuables because of thieves and pickpockets and we were told to expect men to try to rub up against us. We are scandalous because of our long pants and lack of face covering and yet we are extremely desirable. Go figure.

I cannot imagine that any man would find these two chubby, gray, middle-aged lesbians all that desirable, but who knows? Kidnapping is not about sex and desire, it is about power. Since I can hardly imagine a worse fate, The Spouse and I jointly decided to “stay home” today.

We’ve actually had a lovely day. Lounging and lazy in our cabin, we slept late, ordered room service, watched numerous episodes of Nip/Tuck and took naps. We also took long luxurious baths and are now preparing to go out for the evening. We plan to play “wipe-out Bingo” where the winner gets their Sea Pass account wiped out, then have a lovely dinner in the main dining room and then hit the blackjack tables. We’ll probably close up the casino in the wee hours and then hit Ben & Jerry’s ice cream parlor for a good night snack before heading for home and a good nights sleep.

We have another sea day tomorrow as we head for Spain and more adventures. Over the weekend, we’ll be in Malaga, Spain on Saturday and Seville on Sunday. Seville will be our “big” day as we have a full day of touring planned and we’ll be out and about with a group for the whole day. We expect to see lots of the Spanish countryside, numerous small villages and many tourist attractions. We plan to shop in both Spanish cities and I will be especially looking for my brother’s Christmas gift. I have no trouble with the ladies as they are easy to buy for, but men are a bit more difficult. The Spouse says we will find lots of “man things” in Spain so that’s where we’ll plan to get his gift. I hope I can find something to please him. He’s a sweet and loving brother and he deserves the best.

As I mentioned above, we’ve been watching Nip/Tuck here in our cabin. It’s one of those series we had just never gotten around to watching and yet everyone said it was so good. We bought, and brought with us, the first two seasons, and we are totally hooked. It is a GREAT show with some fine writing and great acting. I can totally recommend it to anyone as an enjoyable evening of television. It should be mentioned that an “R” rating is appropriate for a lot of the content as there is plenty of graphic sex. This one is not for the kiddies.

I haven’t been posting pictures here in the blog because I’m paying for Internet time by the minute and we have a slow connection. Hence, just to check mail and post on the blog really sucks up the money. Uploading and posting pictures would really eat up the time. I’ll post them when I get home, along with a running commentary for your entertainment. I will give you one picture, just for tonight, just to keep you amused. Hope you enjoy this one of The Spouse and I in the streets of Dubrovnik.

To be continued………..

Euro Journals - 6

2007-11-27T15:50:00.000-08:00

I’ve always known that animals communicate with each other, however, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen quite so clear a display of that fact as the one I saw in Dubrovnik.

This walled city in Croatia has many, many cats. Big cats, small cats, white, black and multi-colored cats, striped cats, cats of all sizes, shapes, temperaments and size. At first you are surprised to notice so many felines, but as you see a mouse body here and a rat carcass there, you realize they have a job to do and it appears they do it very well. I think it is safe to say they are well fed. I saw no skinny cats in Dubrovnik.

However, even the finest of diets could do with an occasional change of pace.

As we walked down the alleyway to the next little shop, I suddenly heard a cat meowing very, very loudly. She was practically “screaming” and I peered down the next lane to see what the problem was. There she sat, about halfway down the lane with her paw proudly placed on the body of a dead pigeon. She had food! Fresh food! Different food! Not a mouse! And she was telling the world.

Suddenly from behind me, I heard an answering cry quite as loud as the first and I turned my head to see a second cat coming down the alley at a full gallop yelling his head off. He flew past us and skidded as he made the turn down the lane where his mate sat waiting with the pigeon.

He reached her, slowed to a stop and sat down looking at the pigeon. The meowing and calling stopped. The two bent their heads to their meal. He had been called home to dinner and he had answered with great alacrity.

**********
We continue cruising down the European coastline. Yesterday we had an at-sea day and it was so wonderful and relaxing. I had a massage in the spa and also some reflexology on my aching feet. (I am so spoiled in having had the best reflexologist in the world that all others seem to be doing nothing more than randomly poking at me! However, I continue to let them try.) Then I followed my spa time with some time in a hot whirlpool bath which did wonders for my aching knees. Then back to our lovely room where The Spouse had just awakened. We went out to lunch in the main dining room where we feasted on some excellent fare. Then back to our suite for a long afternoon nap.

When we awoke, we got up, bathed, dressed up beautifully for our first formal night and went off to meet our friends for dinner. After dinner we enjoyed the show in the 42nd Street Theater followed by a couple hours at the blackjack table. Life’s rough isn’t it????
*********************************************
We have a delightful group of dining companions and we truly feel blessed in that we have found some new and wonderful friends. Since we’ve been on cruises in the past where we got stuck with not-so-great tablemates, the pleasurable companionship of these folks is quite a joy.

At our table we have an incredibly wealthy couple who are in the Owner’s Suite and are on this cruise as they preferred not to sail their yacht in this area in the wintertime. Too much bad weather.

What’s amazing is despite their clear and obvious wealth, they are truly nice, pleasant and fun people. We really like them. She’s working on her 4th husband and he’s on his 3rd wife so I’m not sure if they’ll still be together should we see them in the future, but for now they are going strong.

She is arm candy to this wealthy older man, but she’s a very sharp mama and nobody’s “empty headed fool”. We really like her and he’s funny as hell. She says (privately to me) that if this 4th husband doesn’t work out, next time she’s going to try women. Why not? The 4 men she’s been married to have made her rich enough to live extremely comfortably for the rest of her life. Why shouldn’t she live anyway she wants?

The Spouse is keeping a comfortable hand on my thigh and a watchful eye on the flirtatious beauty. She wants to make quite sure that I’m not #5. She needn’t worry. Loyalty is my middle name.

For some inexplicable reason, they are just crazy about The Spouse and I. At least so they keep telling us. This is apparently the year that it is very chic to have lesbian friends. We are so “in”.

They live in Palm Beach, Florida and have summer homes in various other places in the world. These two remind us of the people you see on TV or in the movies. Who really lives like this? Apparently they do.

The other folks at our table are an older English couple. They are from Wales. They are quite staid and conservative and I think they are not quite sure what to think of the "arm candy". She overwhelms them. Ken just celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday and, I swear, that man doesn’t look a day over 65! He really holds his age well. Margaret is 78 and she too is very youthful looking. We are the first Americans they’ve ever talked to and they’ve decided if all “Yanks” are like us, then American’s aren’t as bad as they thought! Their English slang, heavy duty accent and dry sense of humor is truly enjoyable and they keep us all laughing. (I learned at dinner tonight that the "arm candy" really is too much for their conservative tastes. We think she's funny. They think she's vulgar. It's all in the perspective. The English couple are moving on to other pastures, so we're down to our foursome: the wealthy Dallas type J.R. and Sue Ellen and the oh so chic lesbians. What can I tell you? It's amusing to say the least!)

As I hope you can tell by my writing, we are having a truly wonderful time on this vacation. We spent today in Santorini, Greece and what a beautiful place that is! Santorini is a volcanic island and, as such, it is high and craggy and has homes and villages perched on the mountainsides. The village streets are steep and built with cobblestones and many steps up and down. Not an easy place for these arthritic knees to explore, however, we did our best.

We only had a few hours here so we were unable to truly explore the island. However, what little we did get to see was amazingly beautiful. The architecture is the classic Greek that you see in pictures with the white buildings and blue roofs. The scenery is incredible because of the height of the village placement. The people literally live at the top of a mountain on the remains of an ancient volcano. There is a mountaintop village at each end of the island as well as the small port town where we anchored just offshore. This island is a vacation destination for many Greeks and it is easy to see why. It is truly a beautiful place with black sand beaches and crystal clear water.

I rode a cable car up to the village and the panoramic view that spread out before me as the car climbed was truly awe inspiring. The crystal clear cove where our ship was anchored, the craggy coastline, jagged with the volcanic eruptions of centuries ago, the royal blue rooftops and white washed brilliance of some of the housing in the distance.

The Spouse opted to take a donkey ride to the village at the top. My cable car ride took 6 minutes. Her donkey ride took 1 ½ hours. The donkey ride didn’t take her all the way to the top. Why is not clear to me or her. Anyway she rode about 2/3 of the way up the mountain and then climbed the remaining one-third of the pathway literally on her hands and knees, stopping frequently to rest. I TOLD her the donkey thing was not a great idea, but if she wanted to do it, that it was fine with me. I’d meet her at the top. And so I did. She’s a bit fatigued this evening and I do believe it’s from more than just shopping.

Prices on all their “treasures” were amazingly low and we bought many Christmas gifts. What a fun way to go Christmas shopping!! For some inexplicable reason the merchants here prefer credit cards to cash. They told us on the ship that this was the case, but I still had difficulty believing it until I saw for myself. They really did prefer I use the credit card rather than pay cash. Why would any merchant not want cash in hand?? Hmmm….something to ponder.

Well, enough for tonight. We have just set sail and are heading for Tunisia. We have another at-sea day tomorrow so we can rest up and get ready for our next adventure.

To be continued…………………………..

Euro Journals - 5

2007-11-25T11:22:00.000-08:00

We opened the door and walked into what we hoped was a beautiful suite. We were not disappointed. Our little “piece of heaven” aboard the Royal Caribbean ship “Splendor of The Seas” is truly a lovely hideaway.

It seems doubly so to us as we arrived wet, cold, tired, aching and in sore need of some pampering. Our room is truly beautiful. It is large and has a big, comfortable, king sized bed with nightstands and a vanity table on one side of the room. The other side of the spacious room features the living area which has a large L shaped couch, an easy chair, a coffee table and a TV. In the far corner is our little kitchenette with fridge, glassware, ice, at al. We have incredible amounts of storage space with more than enough hanging room and drawer space for all our clothing. We actually have empty drawers with nothing to put in them. We have been on many cruises and we both agree that this is our nicest room to date. RCL did good. We’ll be back for sure.

We settled into our role of being pampered and spoiled with the greatest of ease. As we nibbled fresh fruit and sipped champagne, I gathered our wet and dirty clothes and sent them to the laundry. It is 24 hours later and they are already back, fresh, clean and ironed.

When I went to bed last night (after making a VERY nice haul at the blackjack table) I was reminded how much I love sleeping while cruising. As the bed gently rocks back and forth with the rhythm of the waves, it is like being a babe in a cradle and it is surely a fine way to drift off to sleep. (providing, of course, you don’t forget the Dramamine!) We leave the patio door open a couple of inches and lay there listening to the ocean as we are rocked to sleep.

Today we were in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It is not a town I would have chosen to visit, but it is one of the cities on our itinerary so we went to explore. It is quite a fascinating place. It is one of the last standing medieval walled cities. The “old city” inside the walls is alive and well. We walked the alleyways, visited the shops, admired the beauty of the centuries old churches and listened to the bells in the tower that have been ringing the time for many, many centuries.

I took these old, aching legs and climbed what seemed like a mountain of steps and, when we got to the top, we walked the top of the wall. The view is astounding as you look out over the Adriatic Sea, the city of Dubrovnik and the rolling, green hills of the European countryside. It is easy to see why the ancients built their cities within walls like these. What could possibly be a better fortress when the enemy comes? And you can see him coming from so very far away. Our guide on a city tour told us that the cobble stoned (and very slick) walkways are deliberately narrow in order to keep invading soldiers from being able to advance in a group. The walkways end in a square where the defenders can be waiting to kill the enemy as they arrive, one by one. It’s actually quite a logical tactic of warfare. This is assuming, of course, that any enemy (pre-modern weapons) could actually get inside these massive walls. As we walked in, we crossed a drawbridge and saw what had once been a moat. Once the gate was up, as we’ve all seen in movies, the only way into the city was up and over the walls and I don’t imagine this happened too frequently. Those walls are really impressive.

We enjoyed Dubrovnik and our tour and we did our share for the local economy. There are many, many little shops and their specialty seems to be jewelry and leather goods. We made some fine buys. You can find all kinds of things for sale, but more of those types of items than any other.

Now we are back on the ship and we have set sail once again. We are heading for Greece. We will be there on Tuesday. Tomorrow is an at-sea day and I am looking forward to a massage, some reflexology on my aching feet, and maybe an afternoon game of bingo. Tomorrow night is our first formal dinner so we’ll be dressed to the nines when we head out.. We have very pleasant dinner companions and are looking forward to sharing another bottle of wine with them. I am, slowly but surely, finding wines that I enjoy. As a general rule, I am not a wine drinker as I just don’t care for the taste. But, as I am learning, there ARE some wonderful tasting wines out there. It’s just taking some time and effort to find the ones that I like. Sis – try a Johannesburg Reisling. The word “Spatlese” is also on the label and I don’t know exactly what it means, but it’s important. The “Reisling” is the type of grapes. You’ll like it. Sweet, mellow, goes down easy.

Well, enough for this time. I must go to the Internet Café and get this posted before dinner. I am annoyed to report that we cannot get Wi-Fi in the cabin but must go to select spots on the ship to connect. Why can they not make the wireless available ship wide? It would be so much nicer to handle it all from my own room.

To be continued………………..

Euro Journals - 4

2007-11-25T11:21:00.000-08:00

We have left the city of Venice behind us and I can’t say that I’m terribly sorry. Although the place had its share of charm and ambiance, it was nonetheless a location that was, for me, a nightmare to traverse. We had to walk everywhere or else get on a water conveyance of some kind. Since I have bad knees for walking and I get seasick on the water, this is just not my kind of town.

Why would somebody who gets seasick go on a cruise, you might ask? Well, I love cruising enough to take meds every day. I don’t love Venice that much. They have some of the most beautiful glassware in the world and they make gorgeous jewelry out of that glass. However, now that I have a large assortment of said jewelry, I can leave Venice behind with no regrets.

This morning as we tried to leave our hotel to head for the cruise ship at the port, the final problem occurred with the city and it was definitely the straw that broke the camel’s back. No more Venice for us. Once has been quite enough.

You’ll recall that I mentioned it has been raining, cloudy, cold, etc. etc. Well, apparently when it rains a lot in Venice, the canals overflow and the streets flood. St. Marks square had a foot of standing, ice cold water that had to be crossed in order to get over to the canal side where transportation was waiting. My jeans were soaked to the knees, and, obviously my shoes and socks were sodden. Plus, I just kept thinking about how filthy that water was. Being in the health field as I am, I was wondering about all kinds of waterborne diseases, e.g. cholera et al and I was not a happy camper. Neither of us were. The Spouse seems to be coming down with a cold and wading several blocks in icy water did not do her health any good at all.

The locals were all wearing rubber boots that went up to their knees or thighs and they seemed completely unfazed by the flooding. They just waded along and went about their business. Only the dumb tourists (like yours truly) had problems with their tennis shoes and low cut boots. Somehow, the tourist brochures never mention the fact that Venice floods regularly after a good rain and that it is extremely common at this time of year. Common enough that all the piles of “tables” that we saw folded and stacked in St. Mark’s square, turned out not to be tables at all, but elevated sidewalks. Unfortunately, the elevated table walks don’t go everywhere so they weren’t much help to us in our quest to get out of Venice and to the port where our ship was waiting.

Because of the flooding we hired a porter to transport our luggage. We surely couldn’t go pushing it through the water and therefore, we had to hire help. These very strong gentleman make a living manually hauling stuff around Venice on their elevated carts. Our porter was a very sweet, kind and helpful older guy. I was amazed at how strong he was physically as he muscled his cart up and down stairs and through the water to get us where we needed to be. I tipped him generously for his very gracious help.

After the flooding and the blocks long wading in ice water, we treated ourselves to a very expensive private taxi to take us to the port. The “private taxi” is, of course, no more than some entrepreneur with a speed boat. We hired ourselves a strong young man with a fine looking boat and off we went. He hauled both me and The Spouse and the luggage into his boat and we went flying through the canals heading for our big cruise ship.

Getting into the speed boat was interesting as his boat could only get so close to the dock and that closeness was about a 3 foot wide step for a nice big man. Since I do not have the legs of a tall man and said legs are arthritic to boot, I was scared to death that I was going into the canal before I managed to get into the boat. However, I was determined not to get any wetter that I already was and I made it. I’m sure from a spectator’s point of view, watching three strong men and The Spouse hanging onto me for dear life as I climbed into the speed boat, was quite a sight to see.

As I said at the beginning, I believe I’ve had enough of Venice.

As we pulled into the port, the RCL people greeted our taxi, took over the luggage and we were immediately enveloped in a warm protective, care taking environment. We were no longer tourists visiting Venice, we were now CRUISE SHIP PASSENGERS and as such we had people seemingly at our beck and call. Can we help you? Can we feed you? Can we show you the way? Can we lift and carry and fetch and do anything for you to make you more comfortable?

I shrugged off the cares of a surly and beautiful city, forgot about my wet clothes and squishing boots, quit worrying about who’s got the luggage, quit wondering if my pocket was going to be picked momentarily and removed my heavy backpack and handed it to a handsome young man. He was standing there awaiting my word as to what I needed and how he could help. I walked up the gangplank and into warmth, safety and security.

God, I do love cruising.

To be continued………………..

Euro Journals - 3

2007-11-23T01:22:00.001-08:00

Yet another 24 hours has passed and how quickly our time in Venice is slipping away.

We got up fairly early this morning and went down to the breakfast that is part of the package price we paid for this hotel. I was expecting some cold cereal and a bagel, but what we got instead was truly mind boggling.

First of all, instead of just a simple, quickie buffet, we were shown to one of the most beautiful, elegant dining rooms I’ve ever been in. Although much smaller, the ambiance easily equaled that of a cruise ship dining room. The crystal and sterling on the table, the many, many choices for breakfast, the pleasant fellow diners, the wait staff. It was truly a pleasant and unexpected surprise.

I guess what made it so surprising is what makes Venice (and according to The Spouse), all of Europe, so very different from America. At home, if you’re going into a classy restaurant to eat, you know it at a glance. You get no true guarantees that the food is good but, at the very least, the place is in a good area, it looks clean and nice on the outside, in California it has an “A” rating placard in the window, it offers valet parking and it just “looks” expensive and high end….. there’s no mistaking that this is a fine restaurant. But here, things are so very different.

For starters, this 1000 year old city is full of alleyways. Not roads or streets or boulevards, but hundreds (thousands?) of winding alleys. The exterior of the buildings are horrible and cracked and they need paint and upkeep work badly. But those buildings have been standing there for literally centuries “watching” the evolution of humankind. When these alleys were built, there were no cars. A walkway need only be wide enough for a person or, possibly, a horse. And that’s exactly what they are. Just that wide. And even today, there are no cars here, so why bother to change?

It is simply shocking to me to walk into an area that at home you would call “the slums”, only to discover dozens and dozens of shops and restaurants full of expensive beautiful items and fabulous food. You feel like you’re in a “bad neighborhood” until you begin to realize this is what the whole city looks like. Back alleys, crumbling paint, cracked and falling walls.

And yet there is a charm here in these back alleys. An ambiance that’s difficult to put into words. The Italian people, at least the majority of those we have met, are not very friendly. Some are downright rude. Some are abrupt and dismissive. But those few that ARE friendly are so warm and welcoming that they more than make up for the nasty ones.

They shove and push and grumble their way onto the bus, but then a man gets up and gives you his seat.

They ignore you in a restaurant until you are ready to scream, but when they finally get around to waiting on you, they bring wonderful hot fresh food and they care whether or not you like it.

The contrasts between the old and the new, the friendly and the nasty, the helpful and the rude, the warm and the cold…..it’s all very striking.

Now going back to my original thoughts about the fabulous breakfast served in such style. Our hotel entrance is on a back alley. You must walk to it or possibly have a private taxi bring you through the waterways and up to the nearby landing. The building is old and ugly and unassuming. The concrete is cracked and needs paint. There is a cold wind whistling around the corner. The canal running along in front is full of brackish and unclean looking water.

And yet, this is a fine hotel. We have beautiful rooms, a comfortable bed, a nice living room, a small kitchen with a stove, microwave and fridge. The bathroom, although a bit strange by American standards, with its bidet and square toilet seat, is nonetheless roomy, comfortable, has a large tub, plenty of hot water and meets all our needs.

So maybe you can understand my surprise at the exceptionally classy and beautiful dining room and wonderful food. I just keep expecting the interior to match the exterior and it never does. It’s a difficult concept to grasp. It’s like all we ever see is the wet slimy frog, but the prince really is in there if you’ll just step up and take a look. We stepped up and are oh so pleasantly surprised at how handsome he is.

Clearly, I can never keep up with all the things we are doing in terms of my blog writing. It’s just so much stuff, so many activities, so many places. I’ll just keep writing the highlights and will try you give you a “feel” for where we are and the things we are doing.

Some things we did today after our wonderful breakfast:

We went to the Murano Glass Factory. I bought some beautiful treasures, both for us and for gifts. Their glass is incredible and some of the most gorgeous in the world.

We met and chatted with two other couples from Southern California. One was sitting right behind us on the Vaporetto (think streetcar on the water) and when I heard them speaking English, I answered one of their questions. Retired military folks. We had a lot in common. They also live just a few miles from us. It really is a small world.

I truly forgot that today was Thanksgiving. It was just another vacation day for us. I had pizza for dinner and The Spouse had some risotto with mushrooms. Both were excellent.

A pigeon (they are really everywhere and obnoxious) landed on The Spouse’s head and wouldn’t get off. She freaked out and it jumped onto her backpack still refusing to get off. I whacked at it with my cane and it finally flew away. The shocked and horrified faces of the passersby due to my “pigeon whacking” made it clear how truly protected these little pests are. The Spouse swears if a cop had seen me, I would have been arrested. Gawd! Can you imagine? In the pokey for pigeon whacking! The Spouse has now taken to calling me PW.

I saw a magnificent piece of Murano glass today. It depicted a large fish and an ocean scene. It truly was spectacular and I was admiring it with absolutely no intention of buying it. The salesman, who was convinced he could sell it to me, went from €3500 Euros, including shipping and insurance, to €2100 Euros in the blink of an eye. Just goes to show how overpriced art really is.

We went to the Jewish Ghetto (their words, not mine) and roamed the shops searching for treasures. We saw Hassidic Jews and little boys with yarmulkes. We stopped at a canal side espresso shop, went into the back room, stretched out at a warm comfortable table and had our hot drinks. The Spouse had her expresso and I had hot chocolate. The chocolate was so thick and so sweet, I felt like I could chew my drink instead of sipping it. An interesting experience.

It poured rain on us and was freezing cold all day. In the 30’s. Fortunately we expected it and had all the right clothes. We were perfectly comfortable and actually enjoyed the rain. Us desert dwellers don’t get to see much of that wet stuff. I had an umbrella in my backpack but we never bothered to pull it out. The Spouse bought a very cool newsboy hat and I pulled up the hood on my waterproof jacket and we just kept on rolling.

Well, speaking of “rolling”, if I don’t stop typing and roll over and go to sleep, I’ll never be able to get up in the morning for the tomorrow’s adventures.

Stay tuned…….more to come.

Euro Journals - 2

2007-11-22T02:25:00.000-08:00

I am writing from a hotel room in Venice, Italy. This has probably been one of the longest and most physically arduous days I have experienced in recent memory. However, now that we are here, settled into our lovely hotel room, full of dinner and wine and pain pills, my outlook seems quite a bit rosier. Let me recap the last 24 hours for you.

We left New York last night around 8 PM. The plane was delayed in leaving as two passengers had checked their bags, had them put on the plane, and then never showed up for the flight. In this day and age that is suspicious, so all the baggage was unloaded, the suspect baggage was removed, then all the baggage was reloaded. As a consequence we left about an hour late. Of course that hour was spent sitting on the plane, on the tarmac, waiting to leave.

Once we finally got underway, we changed our watches and immediately lost 9 hours. In a nutshell, it was 2 AM Venice time and only 5 PM on the West Coast. So began the jet lag. We will soon be back in sync, I believe, since we are both going to knock ourselves out with sleeping pills in an hour or so and then we should be in good shape when we get up in the morning and our bodies should, more or less, be on Venice time. I can’t imagine how businessmen, who constantly travel to Europe, seem to handle the great time differences so easily. For example, right now at home? It’s 2:40 in the afternoon. Here? It’s 11:40 PM and we’re in bed. However, since we’re both exhausted from the long trip, sleeping should not be a problem.

As we traveled the second, trans-Atlantic leg of our trip, (all endless 8 hours of it), I learned to my chagrin, that international flights serve a full meal and they don’t charge extra for it. Unfortunately, I’ve gotten used to the cheapness of domestic air travel and I expected nothing, so we ate in the New York airport in preparation for the long flight. It was annoying to have that good smelling food being served all around us and not be the slightest bit hungry!

After dinner on the plane, they turned out the lights and the vast majority of the passengers, The Spouse included, got out their blankies and pillows and nodded off to sleep. I read. And read. And read. Several times I did the pillow and blanket thing but after lying there quiet and motionless for 15-20 minutes with my mind racing, I gave up and went back to reading. I got up repeatedly and wandered around the plane as I was stiff and hurting. I went to the bathroom so many times that the stewardess probably thought there was something wrong with me. However, it gave me an excuse to move around and I can always squeeze out a little something. I took pain pills for my knees and I took Xanax to help me relax me so I could sleep. Basically nothing helped. I was wide awake and hurting, essentially from L.A. California to Venice, Italy. Need I say I was not in the most pleasant of moods by the time we landed at the airport in Venice? I had been up and traveling for over 24 hours nonstop by the time we arrived.

The plane used on our earlier flight from L.A. to New York had a very cool feature that I have not personally experienced before. I have flown many, many times and have traveled with no movies, movies on the big screen in the front of the cabin, and movies on the drop down TV style screen occurring every 3rd or 4th row. However, on this flight, each seat had their own individual screen built into the back of the seat in front of you. The small TV/DVR gave you choices of first run movies, regular TV, HBO, sports, etc. It was quite entertaining and nice to be able to pick what I wanted to see personally. I saw what I considered to be a very amusing movie, “Evan Almighty”, and I can certainly recommend it as a great G movie for the family. The kids will love all the animals.

Anyway, back to Italy. We landed and I was pleased to discover that almost all signage pointing the way to anything (at least at and around the airport) is in Italian and English. It certainly made it easier for us to navigate. We went through customs, had our passports stamped and then proceeded into the main terminal to buy water bus tickets and figure out where to catch said bus. (Just picture a large city bus with no wheels. It’s on the water instead.)

You’ll recall from my last post that we arrived with TWO suitcases each rather than the planned one, so after picking up our luggage, we dragged ourselves over to a quiet corner, repacked the large suitcase and, in doing this, we went back down to only one suitcase and a small tote which rode on top of the wheeled suitcase.

We bought our water bus tickets after a lengthy conference in Italian and English with the seller of water bus tickets. She was very helpful and pointed out the direction we should go, where to get on and where to get off. So off we went rolling down the streets of Venice, with our backpacks on our back, our steel cable strapped purses on our body and our rolling suitcases at our side. Problem? Our wheeled suitcases didn’t roll very well on the cobblestoned and marble paved streets. However, we pushed and shoved and struggled along to the bus stop and then sat down to wait.

When the bus arrived, we, and our large, heavy suitcases, managed to get on and get seated, but let me tell you it was a challenge. For you cruisers out there, just imagine getting on the tender which will take you into port, only instead of just you and your waist purse going on a day trip, you are carrying your entire vacation supply of everything right along with you. It was fun, interesting, challenging and a pain in the ass. However, the water bus fare was €12 Euros each. The private water taxi? €60 Euros each. For the mental math, I’m using a rough rule of thumb that whatever the Euro price is, it is half again as much in the dollars that I understand. The €12 Euro bus ride was about $18. It was an hour long ride ¾ of the way across Venice. The same trip in the water taxi would have cost us about $90 bucks. Hence, we became bus people.

As we bounced and rolled along in the waves and rough water, I immediately realized I needed a Dramamine. It was at this point that I thought, it’s good my Mom didn’t come. This one day alone would have killed her. I am considerably stronger and more durable than she is and it almost killed me. And? We were just getting warmed up.

Thanks to our vigilant attention (and no thanks to the bus driver who said NOTHING about which stop we were at) we did manage to get off at San Marco which was our destination. I guess I expected something like a railroad conductor where he yells out, “next stop, San Marco; next stop Lido”, etc. etc. However, I was living in a dream world. He said nothing at all, however he did help with the luggage and he was cute, so we forgave him.

After departing the bus at San Marco, we consulted our map, asked directions and headed off in the direction of St. Mark’s Square and the Basilica. It actually would not have been very problematic, despite our exhaustion, if only the damn suitcases would have rolled nicely on the cobblestone paving. They didn’t. And to make matters worse, and rub a little salt into our “wounds”, we saw other travelers doing exactly as we were and their suitcases were flying along with a one finger push. These people were Europeans, as evidenced by their language, so clearly they have luggage over here that will roll a whole lot better than what we have. One of our travel purchases might very well be some high class, smooth rolling luggage. We shall see. When I saw one European man rolling along two large suitcases, side by side, and those bags floated down those cobblestoned streets like a feather, I knew we had crappy wheels. Not for long………….

The Spouse can gab with anyone about anything at any time and in any place. That’s why she’s so good at her job. Because of this skill, she had numerous conversations with Italians about our directions, where we were headed, how much farther, etc. etc. and she gathered lots of information. The fact that she can’t speak Italian didn’t seem to slow her down in the slightest.

We found our hotel after only one or two mis-steps in direction. We had to cross St. Mark’s Square and the place is simply “alive” with pigeons. Apparently they are a protected species over here and I have never seen such fat pigeons in my whole life. They are rather like smallish, very plump chickens in size. They are quite aggressive and come right up to you begging for food and they fly right at you. It was rather unnerving and I had a Tippi Hedren and “The Birds” moment a couple of times. Protected or not, I was quite ready to let my suitcase “accidentally” fall over on a couple of the little buggers. They were extremely annoying. Surprisingly there was almost no bird poop. Then I saw the guy with the pooper scooper working his way around the very large square. What a job. Pigeon shit picker upper.

We checked into our hotel, discovered that we have a very lovely, if small, suite, and got settled in. My first “job” was to lay down on the couch and die. I took a 3 hour nap before I could even begin to think about functioning.

Once I awoke, we made this little place our “home”, got dressed and headed out for dinner. We ate at a small waterside café in one of the alleyways just off the square. There are a million little shops and restaurants all within easy walking distance. It is a bit nerve wracking to wander in these “alleys” as they are not the typical American style streets with stores and shops all spread out. It is like a rabbit warren with hundreds of stores and shops and millions of things for sale, expensive things, cheap things and everything in between.

I can immediately see that I will probably buy some glassware. The Murano glass factory is just a short distance away and I have already seen some incredibly beautifully glassware in the windows. My shopping finger is itching.

The shops seem uniquely Italian and it is certainly a very different setting and a very different outlook from shopping at the mall in America.

Well, I’m tired and I need to sleep in preparation for tomorrow’s adventures. All of you reading this, hold a good thought for us and send up a quick prayer for our safety. I’ll be back tomorrow.

To the family: we love you and miss you and are thinking of you all the time.

The adventure continues……………………..

Euro Journals - 1

2007-11-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

I had planned to start writing last night while we were staying in a lovely hotel right by LAX. However, we arrived, checked in, got hamburgers from Burger King across the street, repacked and rebalanced our suitcases and backpacks and then fell into the bed. We were both totally and completely exhausted from days of preparation.

Between the errands, the necessary purchases, the packing, weighing, unpacking, re-packing, weighing, unpacking, re-packing, weighing, etc. etc. ad infinitum over this last week, to say we were tired, and are tired, is a minor understatement.

I have never in all my travels worked so hard at packing. The most invaluable tool I bought in our trip preparations was a hand held suitcase scale. It enabled us to see at a glance how we were doing on the weight of our suitcases.

The airlines have gotten incredibly strict on baggage weight, especially for international flights, and the fines are unbelievable for overweight luggage. Since I didn’t want to waste any of my precious spending money on overweight luggage, we each packed and unpacked and re-packed our suitcases more times than I can count. Thanks to packing cubes and space saver air bags for bulky items, space was never the issue. Weight was the issue.

I started at 79½ pounds and by weeks end I had it down to 61 pounds of what I considered clothing and belongings that “I couldn’t live without.” You just try packing all you need for a three week trip that includes hiking and jeans and warm clothing (translation: bulky clothing), formal dress for dinner, bathing suit and spa items, nice sporty clothes, casual lay around the room clothes, pajamas, shoes, toiletries, etc. etc. etc. and keep it in one suitcase under 50 pounds. Not an easy task. Actually, after a week of trying, I finally gave up at 61 pounds and decided I would just pay the fine. The penalties get progressively higher with the weight of your bag, so at 61 pounds, my fine should have been $50. I decided if I could afford a trip of this magnitude, I could afford $50 bucks to take what I wanted with me.

However, then came a new problem. Many of the things I took out of my suitcase, I put in my backpack. Of course, they don’t weigh your backpack so I could put in as much as I could carry on my back.

What a surprise………I overestimated what I could comfortably carry on my back, to say the least, and by the time we arrived at the hotel last night, I had to once again re-pack. To say I am sick of packing might be a minor understatement. (Oh, and in case I didn’t make this clear, everything I write about me and suitcases and backpacks and weight is true for The Spouse as well.) Neither of us has any sense.

Well, fortunately, both of us had packed a fold-up, large envelope size, duffle style extra suitcase which we had planned to use for the trip home. When I left home, it was small and flat in the bottom of my suitcase. It is now large and very full and has been checked, along with our main big suitcase.

Although I’m annoyed at already using our “extra” suitcase, we now each have two suitcases checked, each one is under 50 pounds, so no fines, and our backpacks are now a manageable and comfortable weight.

When we arrive in Venice, we expect to do more repacking in the airport in order to get back down to one suitcase and our backpack before we start walking, riding or floating our way to our hotel.

As I write this entry I am sitting on a plane bound for New York. I have my laptop on my tray table and the people around me are sleeping or chatting. I just finished watching a good movie (Evan Almighty) and I’m now about ready for a short nap myself. I suppose I should realistically say a short snooze, since I don’t do too well at sleeping on a plane. However, I’ll give it a try since I really am whipped.

I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post this first entry. It depends on the timing, but possibly in the airport in New York. If all flows smoothly, we should have about 3 hours between flights.

To be continued……………….

58 Hours To Go......But Who's Counting?

2007-11-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

I’m counting, that’s who! We have been so incredibly busy getting ready for our BIG adventure that we have hardly had time to breathe. Between gathering our passports, getting international driver’s licenses, and buying traveler’s checks, then shopping for things like voltage adapters, money belts and security purses, my life in the last few weeks has definitely taken an interesting turn.

Did you know they made shoulder purses with steel cabling in the straps so they can’t be cut? Neither did I. Did you know that they drive on the “wrong side of the road” only in Ireland and England and that the rest of Europe drives on the right side as we do? Neither did I. Did you know that the American dollar is so weak in Europe right now, that for my $93 American dollars, I only got €61 Euros? Can you imagine that three nights in a hotel in Italy is in the same monetary neighborhood as a month’s salary for someone making minimum wage here at home? Neither can I.

Clearly, this trip has been, and will continue to be, not only a wild, fun, exciting adventure, it has been a learning experience of the first magnitude. It’s also a great way to clean out your savings account. We have gotten wonderful “deals” at every step of our planning. Fabulous price on our cruise, good deal on our hotels, wonderful sales on “vital” new articles of clothing, and yet, we are saving so much money, we’re going broke!! I can’t believe the amount of money we have spent and are planning to spend in the next 3 weeks. No wonder the world calls us the “rich Americans”. Even the poorest of us don’t really know what “poor” means. We are truly a blessed people.

We’re heading out of here Monday afternoon and will stay at a hotel by the airport on Monday night. We live a long distance from LAX and with the need to be at the airport between 5:00 and 5:30 AM on Tuesday morning, we simply had no choice. We couldn’t take a chance on getting caught in morning rush hour traffic on the way to the airport.

We’re going from here to New York and then, from there, on to Venice, Italy. We leave L.A. about 7 AM Tuesday morning and by 10 AM Wednesday morning we’ll be in Venice. It should be a long, exhausting trip, but we’re doing everything possible to make it easy on ourselves. We hope to be able to sleep on the trans-Atlantic flight and I know The Spouse will snore with ease. She’s like that. But me? I will doze some but since they won’t let me stretch out in the aisle, it is doubtful that I will get much real sleep. For some annoying reason, I simply can’t sleep while in a sitting position. Unfortunately, those economy cabin seats just don’t recline enough to be considered even partially lying down. So, probably, no sleep for me. But I’ll try. It would be nice to arrive feeling fresh and ready for adventures!

The first adventure will be getting from the airport to our hotel. Since, as you know, Venice is a city with waterways instead of paved streets, we have to take a water taxi from the airport. We will use the public transportation as much as possible since the private transports cost about 10 times as much. So just picture it. Two California girls arriving in Venice, probably in the cold and the rain, each of us wearing a backpack, carrying a shoulder bag and pulling a single, large suitcase. Off the plane, pick up the bags, go through customs, find the “taxi place” and buy a book of tickets, then head outside and find the right place to catch the right taxi so we’ll get taken to the correct part of the city. Get on said taxi, dragging suitcases along with us. Get let off at the “curb” near “the square” where we’ll then roll (drag) our suitcases through the cobblestone streets until we find our hotel. Our hotel is located right in the center of town and apparently we have to “only” go over a couple of bridges to get there after we get off the water taxi.

I believe “adventure” is the correct word for what we are heading into. I am truly looking forward to everything. It will be very exciting and a whole new experience. You don’t get too many of those after you reach a certain age in life.

But do you know what has been the most challenging, interesting, exciting, crazy thing of all so far? Trying to pack three weeks worth of clothing and “stuff” into one suitcase. I AM DYING HERE! Packing light is not my forte, but God knows we are trying.

Keep your fingers crossed. After all, we don’t want to sink that water taxi.

The regular vacation posts will begin in the next couple of days, as soon as we are on the road, so stop by often.

The Shadow of Her Smile

2007-11-08T09:22:00.000-08:00

Mom’s been gone for four days now. She headed back to her part of the world on Sunday.

I miss her. I hear the sound of a footstep in the kitchen and I realize I’m waiting for her to say good morning. Only it’s not her, it’s OMAS or a sweet pup shuffling across the kitchen with a lazy step.

I have turned my head to say something to her, only to remember that she’s not here now. And the words die in my throat.

She made the big recliner in our family room her very own and now it looks so empty and forlorn. Her chair sits directly across from my own so my line of sight keeps reminding me that she’s not sitting there anymore.

I’m heading out to run errands today. So many last minute things to do as we get ready for our BIG trip. We leave in only 12 more days.

The empty passenger seat in the car is a constant reminder that Mom is no longer a California girl. She ran around every where with me while she was here. The Spouse, a night worker, usually sleeps all day, and OMAS is currently sick with a bad cold, so she won’t be running any errands. So, off I go, alone, and wishing for Mom’s company.

I do fine with my own company. I like me. But I got used to having her around.

I miss her.

Hurry back Mom. Your absence is sorely felt.

A Halloween Meme

2007-10-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

1. What's the scariest movie you have ever seen?

No question at all, it was “The Exorcist”. I slept with the light on for a year and I was an adult when I saw it.

2. What was your favorite Halloween costume from childhood?

You're kidding, right? I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning. I have no recollection of ANY Halloween costume. (I am stealing my sister’s answer since I too have no memory…so sad) (Addendum: My Mom, who of course has a wonderful memory, reminded me of my favorite costume. When we lived in Taipei, there was no such thing as buying a Halloween costume. The Chinese do not celebrate Halloween. Therefore, the seamstress who made many of our clothes, made me a costume. It was a clown costume, white with large pink polka dots all over it. I had a large ruffled collar and big clown feet. I was in white face with the big red clown smile and a bright red wig. Just picture a smaller version of Clarabelle from Howdy Doody and you've got it. No doubt, that was my favorite costume. Mom should know!!)

3. If you had an unlimited budget, what would your fantasy costume be for this Halloween?

I know this is boring, but I’m not into Halloween costumes anymore. Guess I’m an old fart. My favorite costume of the past was when I was young and svelte and quite butch and I went as Superman, cape and all. Of course my boobs detracted a bit from the muscles “rippling across my chest”, but no costume is perfect. As to that unlimited budget? Just give me the money and I’ll add it to my cruise spending money.

4. When was the last time you went trick or treating?

Assuming taking the kids counts, it’s been at least 30 years. I’m the giver nowadays, not the receiver.

5. What is your favorite Halloween candy?

I guess “Halloween candy” doesn’t include normal candy or I would say homemade fudge. I love pralines, candy bars, hard candy, soft candy, Heath bars, caramel nuggets, Bit-a-Honey, York Peppermint Patties, etc. etc. You name it, I’ll eat it. I am truly a candy hound when I’m not on WW. But for this specific holiday, I love candy corn. Just like eating pure sugar.

6. Tell us about a scary nightmare you had.

My worst nightmares always revolve around somebody I love dying. They are truly terrifying and so terribly real. I have awakened in the middle of the night and called my folks to make sure they were alright.

7. What is your Supernatural fear?

The whole “taking over your body thing”, like "The Exorcist", or “Invasion of The Bodysnatchers” is very scary to me. I’m also not too fond of the idea of an “evil” spirit. Ghosts don’t seem scary in general to me, but the idea of something supernatural being evil and being after me really gets the blood racing.

8. What is your creep-crawly fear?

Snakes. Even harmless little green snakes or “good” snakes that kill the bad things, still creep me out. Just don’t like them at all. They give me the shivers. I always worry about a rattler or a Mohave green biting one of my dogs. The dogs wouldn’t know any better and would surely attack it. There is a class in our area, for dogs, to teach them rattlesnake avoidance and I should take them so they would learn to leave it alone if, God Forbid, the situation ever comes up. I would not let them swim in a pond or a lake for that exact reason. A potential poisonous snake bite. Also, no ocean swimming, as I don’t want them to become some shark’s dinner. The swimming pool is it for these water lovers. I know I'm overprotective, but trust me, these two live better lives than lots of human children. They're not suffering from my overprotectiveness.

9. Tell us about the time you saw a ghost. Or heard something go bump in the night.

True story, I swear. I have seen a ghost and it really wasn’t that scary. Just shocking and surprising. To make a long story short, my partner and I had her Great Aunt living with us. This very old lady had no place else to go and being the good Samaritans we were, we took her in. She had led a very rough life and she had not had many happy Christmases. The holidays were approaching. She had many presents under our tree. She was so excited and could hardly wait for Christmas morning. Unfortunately, on Christmas Eve, she had a heart attack, and was taken by paramedics to the hospital. It was very bad and she died. When I returned to the house late that night, I saw her ghost standing on the stairs. It was just as clear as it could possibly be. No mistake, no imagination. She was there. We always felt she came back for her presents. We opened them and left them laying under the tree. I like to think she saw them and was happy.

10. Would you ever stay in a haunted house overnight?

Someone would have to make it worth my while to miss my very comfy bed. I don’t really believe in haunted houses so I don’t think it would bother me that much.

11. Are you a traditionalist Jack 'O' Lantern carver or do you get creative?

Very traditional. Got tired of the carving mess and now have a lovely ceramic Jack-O-Lantern on the porch on Halloween night.

12. How much do you decorate your house for Halloween?

Very little. Just the aforementioned Jack-O-Lantern. We used to go all out when the kids were little with skeletons, spider webs, pumpkins, etc. etc., but nowadays, just the pumpkin and lots of Halloween candy at the ready.

13. What do you want on your tombstone?

Birth and death dates. Other than that, I have no idea. Never thought about it.

If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged. Write a Halloween Meme and let us get to know you better!!

Mom and Me

2007-10-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

The last three weeks have been hectic and fun filled with my Mom here visiting. I can’t believe how fast the time has flown by as she prepares to leave one week from today. We have done so many things over these weeks, been so many places, laughed so hard we cried and just thoroughly enjoyed being together.

I realize I am fairly rare. Not that many folks really enjoy spending time with a parent. I’m one of the lucky ones. It’s not a duty or a chore or a job. My Mom is one of my best friends and we truly have a blast when we’re together.

One day we went to one of our local Indian casinos to play Bingo. We went, we saw, we did not conquer. We sure tried hard but the Bingo Gods were not smiling on us. However, we also played some slot machines both before and after Bingo and I won some modest amounts. My Mom? She lost every penny she put in. She swears the machines like me!!

We have shopped till we dropped. Both of us have leg/knee issues but neither of us have any sense. We’ve hit the mall numerous times, been to Sam’s Club, seen the sights at Costco, covered the BIG Wal-mart store thoroughly and this morning we are heading for the swap meet. For two women who don’t walk so well, we are surely covering the miles. As I said, we have no sense. Although, I must admit, we have learned the advantages of the riding carts at several stores. We take turns! God forbid anything should slow us down when it comes to shopping!

I’ve run all my errands with Mom at my side. Bank, supermarket, gas station, Ford dealer, Vitamin Shoppe, Best Buy, etc. etc. etc. She just keeps hanging in there and trudging along.

We watch TV, go to the movies, read quietly, enjoy my crazy dogs, watching them swim and fetch, cook together and just generally enjoy being in the same room. This is one of those times when I so very greatly enjoy the kind of schedule I have in my work. Even though I continue to work and teach, I still have had lots of free time to spend with Mom while she’s been here. That is a blessing.

The Spouse and I leave on our cruise in just a little over three weeks and I’ve been trying on outfits and having Mom help me decide what to take. This one or that one? The gray or the black? The dressy top and pants for formal night or the dressy dress? She has a good eye for fashion and her help has been invaluable. We wanted her to go on this cruise with us and we invited her nearly a year ago at the beginning of our plans. At first she thought she might, but then, because of various health issues, she has opted not to go. We’re both sad about that as we had hoped to share this European adventure with her. We are already talking about next year’s trip and we think we may go to England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Again, we are hoping Mom will go with. She is interested. Time will tell if we are lucky enough to have her coming along.

I went to WW Friday morning and discovered to my horror that I have gained 4½ pounds while Mom has been here. I can’t say I’m surprised. I love to cook and having a houseguest is the perfect excuse to make all of the things I have not been eating these last months, a reason to bake cakes and cookies and buy candy and other fattening and delicious crap. For after all, doesn’t Mom NEED all that stuff? Any excuse to eat rich foods and bake wonderful desserts sounds good to me. I have one more week of my “wild” food fling and then back to reality. WW will be there waiting when I return to the fold, I have no doubt. Meanwhile, boy that cheesecake we bought from The Cheesecake Factory sure is good!!

All this quality time with my Mother, really makes me think about the future. How many more years of these wonderful memory making visits will we have? After all, neither of us are spring chickens anymore. I’m 62 and she’s 82. As I wrote about in my last post, I recently went to a funeral where a friend had lost his mother. I know my day will come, but I can’t even imagine the horror. Losing my Dad was hard. But when the time comes for Mom? I swear, I don’t know how I will survive it.

We certainly had our trials and tribulations when I was growing up. I was a truculent, surly brat when I was a teenager and, in hindsight, I can’t imagine how she could stand to be around me. I have no idea how she tolerated my assholiness. But thankfully, she did and we have survived and arrived at this point in our lives.

I am a very lucky woman.

The Big "C" Strikes Again

2007-10-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

I went to a funeral yesterday.

The mother of a dearly beloved friend passed away this past week. The horrible, debilitating, soul sucking, life destroying disease, cancer, struck again. Almost exactly a year apart, tragedy struck our lives. The similarities between the loss of his mother and the loss of my Dad, just a short year ago, truly tore at my heart.

The close knit, large, extended family; the beloved children grieving a parent; the grandchildren grieving a much loved grandparent; the unfairness of a full, vibrant, interesting life cut short by this ghastly disease. Not that his Mom did not live a long, full life, but in this day and age, the fastest growing population in our country are those over the age of 85. Therefore, when we lose a beloved senior well before that age, it “feels” as though they have died way too soon. My Dad was only 84, so he too did not make that magic “fastest growing population” group, and it seems so unfair.

These two, my friend’s Mom and my Dad, these were people who were dearly and deeply loved, people who gave back, people who loved life and everything it had to offer them. Why did they have to go so soon?

At the service yesterday, some of the grandchildren shared love letters written between my friend’s mother and her dearly beloved husband, who had pre-deceased her by 18 years. These letters were the emotional touch that did me in. My parents met when my Mom was only 16 and my Dad was 20 and they too wrote beautiful love letters back and forth during the time when my Dad was overseas in WW2. My friend’s parents were high school sweethearts and when they were separated, the love letters they wrote were what was shared at the service. Clearly, the similarities tore at my heart.

Because my Mom is here with me now, sharing my life for a few weeks, the poignancy of my friend losing his mother, seemed even stronger than it might have otherwise been. Since Mom is here, she had the option of going with me yesterday when The Spouse and I attended the service. She opted not to go and I am so glad because the whole love letter thing? It would have knocked her for a loop. It just hits a little too close to home.

I’ve done what I can for my friend. Held him while he cried, supported him, provided comfort food for him and his family, covered his classes at school, gone to the services and given him all the empathy and sympathy and support that I have to give.

But the reality is, nothing helps. His Mom is gone. My Dad is gone. We must live with it. No matter how much it hurts.

Itinerary.........continued

2007-10-19T22:47:00.000-07:00

I apologize to my readers for my infrequent postings. No real excuses, just busy with a houseguest (my Mom) and the business of life. I will try to do better for I know that many of the family members who read this blog are truly interested in what is going on in my life. I haven’t meant to neglect you!

As we left off on the last post, we were headed for Spain aboard the cruise ship “Splendor of The Seas”, so that’s where we’ll start today. We are docking in Malaga, Spain on the 8th day of our cruise.

As I’ve done my research on Malaga, I've decided that it sounds like it will be an extremely interesting place to visit. It is described as “a paradise in the Andalucia region of southern Spain.” Any place described as “paradise” sounds promising to me. The area has a unique culture with both Moorish and Mediterranean influences and, like Southern California, it has more than 300 days a year of perfect weather and warm sunshine. Malaga and the Costa del Sol stretch of coastline is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. I assume it must be so for good reason.

Spain is the third largest country in Europe and it receives more tourist visitors than it has population. The Spouse lived and traveled in Spain during her military years and, if she had a choice, she would live in Spain again today. However, no matter how much I love to travel, this American always wants to come home to the good ole USA. But the point is, Spain is apparently so lovely that many tourists never want to leave. I am looking forward to this particular port with great anticipation. If I end up loving Spain as much as The Spouse, I can definitely see a future vacation where we simply fly to Spain and spend our vacation time in that country alone. We shall see.

After we leave Spain, we sail to what I consider to be the most exotic and exciting destination of all. We are heading for Casablanca, Morocco. I, of course, have visions of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and piano players tickling the ivories to the tune of “Play It Again Sam”. But somehow I doubt that “Rick’s Café Americain” will be anywhere to be found. However, I do expect to find wonderful, treasure filled bazaars and flea markets and a fascinating and exotic Moroccan city whose history stretches back through the centuries of time. Time will tell what other surprises and adventures Morocco has to offer.

When we depart Morocco, we will be heading for our final destination, Lisbon, Portugal. When we arrive, we will be leaving the ship and staying at a small Portugese hotel. We made a point, both in Venice and in Lisbon, to make hotel reservations at smaller, local hotels. We have done a lot of research and we think we’ll have very nice accommodations. We don’t want to stay at places like the Marriott or the Hilton. We want to see what the city and its people are really like. We are hopeful that staying at locally owned hotels will help us to do that.

I think we have a MAJOR adventure awaiting us and we are counting down the days. We leave one month from tomorrow and we are both VERY excited. I continue to stash away spending money and I am mentally planning what outfits to take. It’s hard to think of being gone from home for almost 3 weeks and yet I only want to take one large suitcase and my backpack. I have to be VERY organized and coordinate outfits and shoes and plan clothes that are all interchangeable. On top of that, we need dressy clothes for the formal nights on shipboard, so packing for our trip is really a challenge. However, I am determined not to overpack and not to take too much. Never in my life have I been on a trip and used everything I take in my suitcase. I am hopeful that this will be the first time. I simply do not want to over burden myself by taking too much. I am an over-packer of the first magnitude and I love to take lots of “just in case” clothes when I travel. I HAVE to get that urge under control for this trip and I’m truly working on it.

I plan to post frequently while we are traveling. I’ll have my laptop and, supposedly, we’ll have Internet access while on board without any problems. Hopefully, that will be the case.

I’ll try to do better with posting regularly. Thanks for reading!!

Itinerary

2007-10-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed in the sidebar, we are on a countdown until our trip to Europe and we are starting to VERY fired up. We have 5 weeks to go, or one month and one week according to the counter. However you measure it, it’s getting close and we can hardly wait.

Several people have asked us about exactly where we are going in Europe, so I thought I’d share our itinerary with you. If any of you readers have been to these particular places please share any and all information that might be helpful. Good places to eat? To shop? Sights that we shouldn’t miss? Problems that you encountered? Etc. etc. Any and all advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.

To start off the big adventure, we fly out of L.A. at the crack of dawn on a Tuesday morning, heading for New York. When we arrive, we have a couple hours to layover and then we board a plane heading for Venice, Italy that leaves at about 6 in the evening. (just writing the words gives me a thrill of excitement!!) We will arrive in Venice about 10 AM on Wednesday morning. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, we will see the sights of Venice. In case the date didn’t register, this is Thanksgiving Thursday so we will be celebrating a totally American holiday in a country that doesn’t recognize it or even take note of it. I suspect we may have pasta instead of turkey!

Then on Saturday, we board our cruise ship, The Splendor of The Seas, a Royal Caribbean vessel. We set sail in the late afternoon and the next day we dock at Dubrovnik, Croatia. This place is not necessarily a destination that I would have gone out of my way to choose, however, this is one of the places the ship goes, so we will explore a new, and heretofore unheard of, place. I’ve done some reading about Dubrovnik and it actually sounds quite interesting. The city is in the extreme south of Croatia and is known as “the pearl of the Adriatic”. It apparently has some incredibly beautiful beachfront, and although it will be wintertime, we are nonetheless looking forward to a walk on the beach. The area is known as “the Riviera”, different, I imagine, from THE Riviera, but beautiful nonetheless. It is also a very historical town having been around for hundreds of years. The Old Town section should be interesting to explore. Here is a picture of the local beachfront with some of the Old Town in the background: Has anybody been there? Details please!

Once we leave Dubrovnik, we will be heading for Santorini, Greece. This is a destination I would have chosen on its own simply because of the incredibly interesting history of the Greeks and my love of Greek food. Santorini is an island and is apparently a frequent destination of the Greek people when they are going on vacation. The villages of Santorini have been there for centuries and they are famous for their wine making, among other things. We expect to explore historical sites, strolling the cobblestone streets of a town that has been there since the 12th century. This is a volcanic island and I hope to see some incredible views of the Mediterranean from the cliff top villages, barring a foggy day. Anyone been there? Details, details please! Below is a picture of the village of Oios located on the island of Santorini.
After leaving Greece, we head for Tunis, Tunisia, yet another destination that I am unfamiliar with. However, some information gathering has again assured me that this will be an interesting place. Tunis is apparently a modern, bustling Mediterranean city with all the amenities that are implied by that term. We expect to tour the city, shop, visit historical sights and I am especially interested in exploring the Old City. It is said that since the city has been there for many, many centuries, when you step into the narrow, cobblestoned streets of the Old City, the centuries slip away and you feel that you have returned to the past. There are many shops with their treasures of brass, olive wood, leather, jewelry and antiques. We look forward to some possible Christmas shopping as well as exploring the old Mosques, ancient palaces, museums and cultural centers. The shipboard personnel tell us that we must dress very conservatively and not wear shorts or tank tops for we will be in a part of the world where women do not expose any part of their bodies. Fortunately, it will be wintertime and staying well covered should not be a problem. Below is a picture of Tunis at night. Has anyone been to Tunis? Any good info to report? Any sights that we should not miss?
At this point in our journey, I will stop. We’ll pick up again in the next post as we head for Spain! Any and all information that anyone can offer regarding our various destinations will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Thoughts of The Day

2007-10-10T00:33:00.000-07:00

Only in California…….

Do you have students who must be told, “No, you cannot submit your work in Japanese, it must be in English.”

Do you have a classroom that is half empty because of the BIG storm and TERRIBLE weather. It’s raining.

Do you have a 6-7 foot tall cement block wall fence around your property, essentially guaranteeing that you will never even know your neighbor’s name.

Are you able to hire an extremely talented gardener who keeps your lawn green, your flowers pruned and your hedges neat for $45 a month.

Do people know instantly what you mean if you say you are in “the business.” (you work in the film or TV industry)

Will you find a very average, 3 bedroom suburban home that the marketplace is valuing at ½ million dollars.

Can you go to the beach on a pleasant sunny day, dip your toes in the salty water, and then, two hours later strap on your snow skis and start down the hill.

Do you see a student on campus, stretched out in the sun in only a pair of shorts, chatting on his cell phone when Halloween is just around the corner. (Okay, maybe in Hawaii and Florida too!)

Do you turn on the news and hear about million dollar homes sliding down a hillside and into the ocean. Why in the world do people keep building houses on unstable hillsides? Do we never learn the lessons of history?

A Letter To My Dumb Teenage Self

2007-10-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

This post was written in response to the Cafemom Writing Challenge

Dear Teenage Lucy’s Mom,

Let me preface this advice to you by saying that I know you don’t want to listen. You won’t believe me and you will roll your eyes and sigh deeply because I’m insisting that you read it.

However, you DO NOT know everything there is to know in this world, even though I realize that you think you do. Try for one minute to believe that and LISTEN to what I’m telling you. This is the best advice you will EVER receive!

1. You are not imagining it. High School really is the worst time in your life. But don’t despair, it will end and life will get better. It just takes time. Be patient.

2. The world around you will not always hate who and what you are. Your day is coming. I know it’s hard to believe, but one day it will actually be kinda cool to be a lesbian.

3. Learn the meaning of the word discretion. Read it, learn it, live it. You do NOT have to flaunt who you are in everyone’s face and dare them not to like it.

4. Please believe me when I tell you that you are NOT the only person in the world who feels this way. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there in the world who were born just like you. You’ll find them.

5. Be patient with your parents. They do NOT understand. It’s not their fault. They cannot even conceive of how you feel. Be extremely patient. Nobody loves you like they do. In time, they will become your best friends. I know that’s very hard to believe now, but trust me, it will happen.

6. If, after reading this, you still insist on doing the military thing, then do it right. Don’t let all those girls going after you go to your head. There will be other times, other places, other chances. You do not have to respond to everyone who gives you the eye. This is the time to remember what you learned about that word – discretion.

7. DO NOT respond to that officer’s girlfriend. She is big trouble. Ignore her.

8. I know the word “retirement” doesn’t even compute in your young brain. But trust me. If you have to join the military, then do it right and you’ll have a paycheck for the rest of your life. Ignore all those girls! This is important, so listen!

9. In the hope that you will truly listen to me, then hear this! Skip the military thing completely and go to college. I know you can’t wait to get away from all those jerks you went to high school with, so go to college somewhere else. Not right there in the same town. Anywhere else will work fine. Major in veterinary medicine. Your love of animals can be a career.

10. Don’t break the law. Not even a little bit. I know it sounds corny, but you will learn it’s true. Do unto others as you want them to do unto you. It’s actually a pretty good rule to live your life by.

11. Study while you’re in high school. You know you are perfectly capable of getting straight A’s. You just don’t bother. Take the time. Get the grades. They will help you get into that Vet school.

12. Give your little brother that baseball glove he wanted so badly. You can get another one. He will end up being one of your best friends for the rest of your life. Indulge him while he’s little.

13. One day while you’re in high school, some guy on the stairwell will make a smart crack to you and it will be the straw that broke the camel’s back. You will punch him. Don’t ever regret it. It was one of the best things you ever did in high school. Hit him harder.

14. When you are almost 19 and living on the beach in California? Don’t sweat it. The good jobs will come, life will get better, you will be successful. That is a temporary situation. Enjoy the freedom.

15. You know that girl in high school? The first one? The one you thought you couldn’t live without? Don’t suffer over her. She’s not worth it. She turned out gay too but she’s lived her whole life in the closet being miserable. You are far too good a person to bother with the likes of her.

16. You know that other girl in high school? The cheerleader? The one you were secretly madly in love with? Well, don’t bother with her either. She turned out to be a drunk who’s been married and divorced three times. And she’s not a good mother either. You can do so much better.

17. Don’t bother with Latin in high school. The person who told you that it’s the “mother tongue” of all languages? They were full of crap. Take Spanish. It will be helpful your whole life.

18. Also, don’t bother with Algebra or Geometry. They are stupid, complicated subjects and you will NEVER use them again in your lifetime. Just make sure you are very competent at basic math. It is so not important to do equations or draw triangles when you are trying to balance your checkbook or make sure you have the correct change.

19. You know how spelling and writing is so easy for you? Well, do more of it. Write a lot. Short stories. Poems. Essays. Submit stuff to magazines. Work on becoming a writer. You have the potential. Pursue it.

20. Lastly, I know you love sports. But try not to play with such reckless abandon. Those knees you are beating up and falling on and sliding into bases with, will one day give you lots of misery. Be kind to them.

Glowball

2007-09-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

As promised, here it an update on playing glowball in the dark.

This was a first for me. I’ve never played golf at night and just assumed the course would be lit up along with fluorescent balls and other well lighted accessories.

Oh no. I was dreaming.

The balls glowed. The flag on the green glowed. The brightly colored neon strips on my clothes, around my neck, perched on my head and all over my cart…they glowed. The course? Not so much.
Actually, the course was pitch black. We all had a flashlight. That was it for light. Of course, the moon came up, nice and big and bright while we were playing the 9th hole. Did I mention it was a 9 hole tournament?

There’s LOTS of water on this course. I was constantly worried about driving into a lake or a ditch or some other water filled obstacle. As a consequence, my partner walked out in front of the cart holding the flashlight and I drove. I figured if he fell in, I could always stop the cart in time to avoid a dunk myself.
The biggest problem was that we were not overly familiar with the course. We didn’t know all the twists and turns. And in the pitch black night? All tee boxes and greens pretty much looked the same.

I realized as we played along, that the players on the other teams were having a hysterically good time. You could hear their laughter and screams of triumph echoing all around us. You couldn’t SEE them, but you could hear them. We finally decided that nobody could possibly be having that much fun without a little help. When we stumbled across another group, who we found by the glowing rings on their cart, it proved to be quite true. They were imbibing generously and I realized that they probably didn’t CARE if they fell in the water. They would have found it hilarious. I would be willing to bet that we were the only sober players in the large group. That’s probably why we found the whole experience a little scary.
Of course, if a glowing projectile was coming at you in the dark, at least you would have been able to see it, so that’s something. After thinking about that, I decided I wasn’t so worried about getting hit by a ball. Actually, it’s much harder to see a white ball in the sunshine. Once I decided I probably wouldn’t get hit by a ball and we had worked out a system to keep the cart out of the water, we actually relaxed and had a very fun time.

There’s something very cool about hitting your ball and seeing the glowing arc as it heads towards the green. Of course, you only know it’s the green because the flag pole is glowing. When our shots weren’t so straight and the glowing ball headed for the rough, also known as the open desert, then it wasn’t so fun. Driving over the rough uneven ground searching for a glowing green object had an otherworldly feel to it. It was scary. It was exciting. It was actually quite fun.

At one point we heard what sounded like a large pack of coyotes howling and yipping and barking and carrying on. That was a bit nerve wracking. However, we were probably scaring the crap out of them with all our glowing paraphernalia, so who can blame them?

The glowing balls floated so even though we ended up in the water a few times, we were able to rescue our balls. The trick, of course, was not to fall in the water at the edge while trying to reach your ball. As I told my partner, “point the flashlight on the bank, I can SEE the floating, glowing ball. It’s the ground I can’t see!”

By the time we reached the last hole, we were totally into it and having a blast. And I promise our strongest drink was hot chocolate to stave off the cold desert night! It really was only nerve wracking when we first started out. I guess it’s like anything else. Once you get the hang of it, it’s not so bad.

We will so be there come next July and the BIG glowball tournament. This one was just for fun. The July one has big prizes to be won! I can’t wait!!

Spending Spree

2007-09-25T12:21:00.001-07:00

I went shopping yesterday and by the time I returned home, I had spent a LOT of money. Bought some new furniture. These are items I’ve been wanting to buy for a long time, but now, with a houseguest coming, I finally got up off my butt and went and did the deed.

I’m very pleased with my purchases. I needed a smallish chair in my family room but a chair that would still be VERY comfortable. I butt tested a vast number of smallish chairs and this is the one that won the prize:

It is very soft leather and surprisingly comfortable and body hugging. I love it.

Then I went crazy and bought a new couch and matching chair for the living room. I clearly have a tendency to lean towards the leather look and recliners, for here’s what I bought for that room:

Both ends of the couch are a recliner, so with two pieces of furniture, I end up with three recliners.

Then finally, The Spouse simply does not have enough room to put all her clothes away neatly, so I bought a new wardrobe and matching dresser. I can’t seem to find a picture of the dresser but it matches the wardrobe and here’s a picture of that:

So all in all, an expensive day, but a day filled with house beautifying. Much fun. I DO love to spend money.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun...And Even When You're Not

2007-09-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

Can’t believe a whole week has flown by since I last posted. Where does the time go? It’s been a hectic, busy week at school with all the students starting their volunteer work at seventy hundred different facilities, all of which I have to contact, talk with and approve. I give them an approved list, but that would be too simple. They want to go and find their own place (can’t really blame them) and then I have to do my thing to make sure all is okay. Not bad, just time consuming.

Then our online work has started and even though that means I get to stay home, it doesn’t mean I don’t have to work. It just means I work on my own time, as in, whenever I feel like it. But it still has to get done. So I’ve been wearing my printer out with their essays and blogs as they answer questions and post their volunteer activities. I’m really NOT complaining, just explaining why it’s been a busy time for me and not much writing has been going on. Lots of printing, reading and red pencil work, but not much writing.

The time truly is flying by and our BIG trip is less than two months away. Look out Europe, here we come! I’m mentally making clothing decisions, hunting for some new jeans, figuring out which suitcase is the lightest weight when empty and stashing money like a miser as I try to put away a “pile” of spending money. It’s not easy to keep squeezing those “pennies” out of the budget and still keep all the bills paid and money jingling in my pocket. However, The Spouse is a great earner and I’m a great saver, so we’ll get there.

My Mom is definitely coming. I helped her buy her ticket online today. She handles her email and a little eBay looking online, but planning an itinerary and purchasing airline tickets online are a little out of her realm. She has very wisely (I think) made the decision to come first class. I’m so glad. I hate the idea of her packed into economy class like one of the sardines. This way she’ll have a very comfy seat and lots of pampering. Just what anyone would wish for their Mom.

We are in high gear around here with the cleaning, throwing away, putting away, polishing, washing, sweeping, vacuuming, shopping and trying in all ways to get ready for the parental unit. My Mom couldn’t care less what the house looks like as I know she’s coming to see me, not inspect my house. However, I care, so we’re working like maniacs. We have two weeks to clean up our two years accumulation of crap. (It’s been a couple years since I had house guests for more than a few hours visit) I think we’ll make it. I heard the perfect description of my house today: We’re clean enough to be sanitary and dirty enough to be comfortable. That’s us to a tee. Truth be told, it’s nice to be “forced” to bring our place up to its potential beauty. It’s really a nice house.

I’m scheduled to play glowball next weekend with some friends. In case you don’t know, that’s playing golf at night in the moonlight with fluorescent golf balls. Should be crazy fun. I’ll definitely tell you about it after we play.

Not much else to report. My fur girls are as sweet as ever except I’m ready to put a plug in Meggie’s twat. I’m so tired of the nervous, excitable, submissive peeing. She’s just a high strung and nervous dog and she can’t help it, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying. The two of them are so different, as Lucy is very mellow and laidback and the idea of nervous pissing is something that would never occur to her. I’ll tell you one thing. In the years to come, when I buy my next pup, if I reach out to pet that pup and it dribbles pee, that is absolutely NOT the one I will pick. Live and learn.

Sunday Ramble

2007-09-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

I think my Mom’s coming to visit me! Yeah! I’m one of those lucky people who really likes my Mom. She’s one of my best friends. The thought of having her here for an extended visit makes me SO happy. As you may or may not recall from previous posts, Mom now lives with my brother and sister-in-law in what used to be her house. My sibling purchased the home and they are now doing an extensive remodeling job. I don’t think the house “needed” remodeling all that badly, however, I totally understand their need and desire to put their “stamp” on the house. It is no longer the parent’s home or the sibling’s childhood home, it is THEIR home. Nothing says this is MINE like spending a ton of money on it. Of course, my brother’s in the remodeling business so the “itch” to do some of the cool stuff he knows about to his own home is very strong. He remodels some VERY high end homes and he wants to implement some of those fantastic ideas in his own home. Sounds cool to me. I can’t wait to see the finished product.

Anyway, since all this remodeling is underway, my poor Mom is right in the midst of carpenters, painters, plumbers, etc. etc. and to say they are disturbing her normally VERY quiet lifestyle would be a minor understatement. So, hopefully, my Mom is coming here to California to spend a few weeks with me. I say “hopefully” because apparently Mom has not yet agreed to the trip. She wants to come and see me, she just doesn’t want to be told to come and see me. I can never say that I don’t know where I get my stubborn streak from. I, too, do not like being told what to do. Even if it’s the right thing to do. I’ll figure that out. Just don’t tell me I HAVE to do it. Hopefully, she will be here with me in the very near future. I’ll keep you posted.

Since the arrival of the parental unit seems eminent, I am, of course, going into high stress mode about the condition of my house. It seems perfectly fine to us, however, when “company” is coming (and company is anybody who doesn’t live here – even family or especially family) I go slightly crazy with trying to get everything clean and perfect. I am, as has been discussed many times in this blog, basically a slob. That’s why I have a cleaning lady. I don’t LIKE to do housework, and consequently, I don’t. I do what HAS to be done on a day to day basis and our wonderful cleaning lady does the rest. Without her, I hate to think of what my house would look like.

We don’t mind a little dog hair and dirt; we don’t mind wet dogs dripping on the floor; we don’t make beds, it’s a stupid waste of time when you’re just going to get back in them a few hours later; I do the laundry when we run out of underwear; the kitchen is cleaned on a daily basis, not because I’m a neat and tidy person, but because I refuse to have bugs; my desktop hasn’t seen the light of day since the painter’s left; and don’t even get me started on the table by my chair. That particular tabletop definitely hasn’t seen daylight in a good long while.

I guess what I’m basically saying is we’re messy, we’re untidy, we’re not neat, we’re just slobs. BUT we are clean, mostly thanks to the cleaning lady and my disgust at the thought of potential bugs in my kitchen. In my youth, many long years ago, I lived in apartments and fought the roach battle. It’s an impossible battle and one you can’t win in an apartment house. The exterminator comes and they all run through the walls to the next apartment. In a day or two they all come back. So I have a “thing” about roaches and, as a consequence, keep my kitchen very clean.

So, anyway, the toilets are scrubbed, the bathroom sparkles, the kitchen is clean and the dishwasher is run regularly. However, the rest of the house? We’d best not talk about it in great detail. When dear sweet Magdalena comes and cleans us up, I would be embarrassed to tell you how much dog hair she picks up and sweeps up on a weekly basis. Some years back, I had the illusion that short haired dogs did not shed as much as long haired ones. Ha! That’s a joke. They shed just as much, they just shed short hair instead of long hair. My lovely cream colored kitchen floor shows that short brown hair that is all over it to great effect.

We have one of those vacuums where you can see inside the canister and see what you’re picking up. When it’s full, you just snap it off, empty it, and snap it back on. I swear that on a weekly basis Magdalena picks up enough hair to make another dog. Considering how much my dogs swim and knowing that they are bathed and brushed regularly, where in the hell does all that hair come from?? They are truly hair making machines!

Anyway, I spent this morning working on the yard. It’s just as bad as the house (actually worse) as Magdalena doesn’t clean out there. I know that part of the reason that it is such a mess (aside from the fact that we are slobs) is that our backyard is TOTALLY private. It’s a California thing that came down from the Spanish heritage of this region. We have big, thick, 6-7 foot high, solid block walls around our back yards. You can’t see into my yard and I can’t see into yours. It is totally private. (Surely you don’t think I’d be wearing that bathing suit that is comfy but shows all my fat, if my backyard and pool area were not oh-so-private.) Anyway, because nobody ever sees the backyard but us (unless we go crazy and decide to invite people over) the messy tendencies that are going on inside, spill right over into the yard. We also have very little to no rain for the great majority of the year, and extremely mild weather in the norm, so that also tends to make the patio and backyard just an extension of the house. Oh, the mess!!

The backyard is an ongoing project, the cleaning lady comes tomorrow, we’ve all gotten up off our lazy butts and are sorting, cleaning, picking up, putting away and just generally trying to make the place more presentable. We will be seriously busy for the next couple of weeks before she gets here.

Okay, I have to stop writing now. I’m getting dirty looks from The Spouse. If she works, I must work. And God knows we have plenty to do. Off I go……………………

Tears

2007-09-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

I read this today about a person who has lost a beloved dog. Of course, I cried and held Bessie in my heart. Author is unknown. I guess one of the reasons it hurts so bad is that I never got to say goodbye. She went into the hospital for a treatment. We expected to pick her up the next day. She died unexpectedly during the night. We got the call in the middle of the night and then, we never saw her again. We took a beloved dog to the vet and we came home with ashes.

So this is where we part, My Friend,
And you'll run on, around the bend,
Gone from sight but not from mind,
New pleasures there you'll surely find.
I will go on, I'll find the strength,
Life measures quality, not its length.
One long embrace before you leave,
Share one last look, before I grieve.
There are others, that much is true,
But they be they and they aren't you.
And I, fair, impartial, or so I thought
Will remember well all you've taught.
Your place I'll hold, you will be missed,
The fur I stroked, the nose I kissed.
And as you go to your final rest,
Take with you this -- I loved you best.

My Beautiful Pantry

2007-09-12T17:36:00.000-07:00

I’m one of those lucky girls who has a large, walk-in pantry. I’m also one of those slobby girls whose pantry is so full of “pantry stuff” that I can hardly get in the door.

However, today was the day. Something didn’t smell good everytime I opened the pantry door, so I figured I better break down and do something about it. I took everything up off the pantry floor, things like cases of pop, Costco sized boxes of brownie mix and cereal, monster bags of rawhide dog chewies (made in the USA), a huge bag of Starbucks, a two foot tall container holding a stack of paper plates, a humongous box of oatmeal, etc. etc. We shop at Costco and Sam’s Club a lot so we have many items that come in unbelievably large packages. With a big pantry and a big freezer, I find it economical to shop in bulk.

When I finally got everything out and piled on the kitchen table, the table top completely disappeared. There was a LOT of stuff in there. Anyway, I digress…..once I got down to rock bottom, I discovered the problem.

A bag of potatoes had been in there just a tad too long and they were heading South fast. I took that bag directly outside and deposited it into the big trash can. Naturally, the trash man came this morning, so that lovely bag of rotting potatoes will sit in the can, in the blazing desert sun for a week. I don’t envy the trash man next week when he opens that lid. For that matter, I don’t envy me when I take more trash out later this week. Geez….

Anyway, once I had everything cleaned out, I discovered that the old, ratty carpet that has been in there since before we bought the house (15 years ago) was in really terrible shape. Need I say it’s been a good while since everything was up off the pantry floor so I could examine the carpet? Not only did it look terrible, this latest bout with the bad potatoes had left it not smelling so special either.

So, I had an idea. You’ll recall the story of laying new carpet in our family room, which you can read about here and here. Well, we had a big chunk of carpet left over from that project and suddenly, in a frenzy of housecleaning efficiency, I ripped the old carpet up off the pantry floor, while making a plan to put some of that leftover, new, lovely, brown carpet into the pantry.

After tearing out the old carpet, I scrubbed the floor with boiling water and Pinesol and then turned Mega Fan on it to dry it out thoroughly. The pantry smelled so fresh and clean!!

Then I dragged out the leftover family room carpet, found some sharp razor box cutters, headed for the patio and started cutting. In truth, The Spouse did most of the work and I am exceptionally pleased with the job she did. We used the old funky carpet as a “pattern” and cut a piece of the new brown carpet to exactly fit the floor of the pantry. Then after the pantry floor was nice and dry, The Spouse laid the new carpet down in there and tucked all the edges in under the baseboards.

It looks gorgeous! And my pantry smells wonderful! Tomorrow, I’ll hit the hardware store and pick up some carpet tape so we can secure the front edge of the carpet right where you enter the pantry. That way we won’t have to worry about any toes getting caught on that edge.

Now, I have to clean off the kitchen table and put all the stuff back in there. But, I don’t mind. The pantry looks like brand new!!

The house cleaning bug doesn’t hit too often, but boy when it does, some wonderful things happen. I’m a happy girl with a clean pantry. Does it get any better?

After re-reading the above, I’ve decided I must have an incredibly boring life. How could anyone possibly be that happy over a new piece of carpet in the floor of the pantry? Good Lord! Clearly my days of partying, clubbing, dating and drinking are far, far in the distant past.

At L-O-N-G Last, The Fourth Week is Here.....Yeah!

2007-09-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

You’ll recall that my classes are taught in a blended format. This means one week in the classroom, one week of online learning, one week in the classroom, one week of online learning, etc. etc. ad infinitum.

This blended format cannot start until the 4th week of classes. We must be there, in person, for those first three weeks. We need to help kids add and drop classes, to make sure everybody understands what we’re doing, to make sure everybody has a syllabus and the right textbook, to make sure they understand the whole “blended” class format.

And the days go slowly rolling by……………

But now, here we are, week 4 of the semester is upon us. I just posted this weeks lessons. Reading, writing, web work. Lots to keep them busy and to help them learn the subject matter.

And me? I’m planning some housework, some yard work and then, maybe a movie later today.

God, I do love the Internet…….

Annoyances in Lab Land

2007-09-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

I love my dogs to the point of craziness. I doubt anyone would ever dispute that fact. However, despite my fondness for them, this does not mean I never get annoyed or upset with them.

I have a dog with what is politely termed a “nervous bladder”. What this means, in essence, is when she gets upset she pees. Doesn’t matter where she is, if she is confused, upset, excited, overly happy, distressed or thinks I’m mad at her, she pees. Obviously, this is classic submissive peeing and, I honestly think, this is one of the stupidest things that dogs do. For heaven’s sake, if I’m upset with you, peeing on me or my stuff does not tend to make me happier!!!

I have read endless articles on this subject. They say, more or less, that I have to “build her up”, make her feel confident, give her the strength of character that will help her not be so submissive. They also tell me that part of it is being young and puppyish. They assure me that as she gets older, she will get better. And she has.

However, she is now over a year old and she is quite well trained. But, this very annoying trait, is NOT gone. I took her to school, I trained her, I praise her frequently, she’s become a marvelous, strong swimmer, she “seems” confident and assured of her strength and beauty and smarts. However, the second she is unsure or loses her confidence, here comes the pee.

This morning, I was trying to get her to do something very simple. E.g. to jump up on the bed without going over the sleeping, recumbent form of The Spouse. Jump up on the other side of the bed. She didn’t understand. She got nervous. She got stressed. She peed. Guess where she was?

In my bed. I am not happy.

Anybody got any suggestions??

Blog Beauty

2007-09-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hey there, check out my new surroundings! Is this a gorgeous layout or what? My very talented niece, Lizzybee, has created the new blog look for me.

As I’m sure you can tell, the beautiful Chocolate Labs in the header are my very own, much loved, girls. Since y’all know me as “Lucy’s Mom”, dear sweet Lucy is front and center. That’s her with the tongue hanging out and her swimming pool in the background.

And, of course, dear Meggie on the right. The sweet little girl who is not so photogenic. However, after 100 different snapshots at numerous different angles and a vast array of locations, we came up with a few good ones. The one we chose is the extreme close-up that shows you those beautiful and intelligent eyes and the still baby aspects of her personality, as she lies there with her tongue sticking out.

And, lastly, I opted to include my sweet and beloved Bessie, who we miss so very much. Not a day goes by that we don’t think of her, miss her and wish she were still here with us. Since she started the whole Chocolate Lab love here at our house, I felt it only right, that she should be up there too, watching over Mom’s blog.

I love the new look and, although I may occasionally change the pictures, I believe the basic design and layout will be here for as long as I’m blogging. I truly love it.

If you’d like the very talented graphic artist, Lizzybee, to help you with YOUR blog, just click here and stop in for a visit at her blog “Moose on The Loose.” You’ll find her email address in the sidebar. Drop her a line and let her know what you have in mind. I’ll bet she can do it!!

Reporting a Newsworthy But Horrifying Event

2007-09-09T07:36:00.001-07:00

Last evening as I was wandering around the Internet reading some of my favorite blogs, I stopped in at Weese’s site. She has become a “Blog Friend”. We read each other’s blogs and correspond occasionally. Since we live on opposite coasts the chances of us ever meeting and becoming “in-person” friends is pretty slim. However, I still follow the events of her life with some regularity just as she follows mine. We seem to have a lot in common.

One of the “ties that bind” is our mutual love of animals and all things four legged. Tonight she wrote about an event that occurred in their lives. A dear friend of theirs is the owner of a very special cat named Gypsy. Their friend, Sue, and her cat Gypsy, seem to have the kind of bond that I share with my animals. The kind of bond that many of us share with our four legged friends; close, loving, they are truly an intimate part of our lives. So reading about this event, truly made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and tears come to my eyes. Here’s what happened in Weese’s own words:

“We try very hard to keep our pets safe. We spend large portions of our income on vet bills, the finest pet food, toys and other accoutrement.We try to keep them from harm by walking our dogs on leashes, building fences and keeping our cats indoors. We make sacrifices so that they will be safe and happy. We coddle out pets.

Our friend Sue is just like that. Sue is a warm, wonderfully sensitive, creative woman and her best pal for these many, many years has been Gypsy. This very special feline cuddled Sue through a difficult divorce. She rejoiced with Sue when they got their new house. She loved to visit, and loved to be tied out on her leash while all we silly lesbians sat around in the yard drinking cool drinks and watching her chase bugs. (Yes, she liked to be tied out with her harness on to get some fresh air... always safe... always within sight).

Then they met with the bizarre and tragic.

This week a chimney company came to cap off the chimney. Unknown to the workers a raccoon was already in there, now sealed in by the cap. While Sue was out that evening, the raccoon gained access to the house... and to Gypsy.

Gypsy did everything she could - and the battle was fierce. Sue came home (thank goodness accompanied by loved friends) to a war zone in her safe and beautiful home.

Vets worked on Gypsy for two days - her injuries were massive. But after her courageous battle - she succumbed to signs of rabies. Yes. Rabies. The raccoon was rabid.

I weep, as I type, for fluffy little Gypsy and our friend Sue”.

The true horror of this story, besides the heartbreak for poor Sue and the tragic and senseless death of Gypsy, is just how very easily this could happen to any one of us.

We leave home for the evening. We lock our beloved fur babies safely in the house. And look what those poor people came home to.

Word to the wise: if you’re planning to have your chimney capped this year, make damn sure you look inside before the chimney is closed up.

J & N – are you listening? With all the remodeling underway, I can easily see capping the fireplace on your list. Just think what precious cargo you leave inside your house everyday.

Everyone give your fur babies an extra hug and kiss tonight.

"It's Not Covered" And Other Fun Insurance Phrases

2007-09-08T09:21:00.001-07:00

I have bad knees. Anybody who knows me, or reads this blog, is aware of this fact. “Bad” is defined as severely arthritic knees with disintegrating bone and wobbly cartridge. They hurt. A lot. I take drugs, bite the bullet, ignore the pain and go on with my life. Do I have a choice?

I have a wonderful rheumatologist. He’s one of the good guys in the doctor world. He cares if I hurt. He tries to do something about it. He encourages me to lose weight in preparation for an eventual knee replacement. He keeps me on a drug regimen that is really helpful for the pain and inflammation. He gives me pain medications with no questions asked.

One of the things he has done for me is to recommend that I have Synvisk injections in my knees. He first recommended this about three years ago. I read up about Synvisk and decided it sounded like a good idea. In brief, the Synvisk replaces the missing synovial fluid in arthritic knees and makes them work better.

I first had a series of Synvisk injections about 3 years ago. The treatment is a series of three shots in each knee, with one week between each shot. The first time I had it done, I was astounded at the improvement in my knees. I could move without pain! I could walk the campus, go on a shopping trip, head for the flea market….all the walking activities I had been avoiding. It was wonderful! Unfortunately, the shots only last anywhere from 6 months to a year, and then, if you choose, you can have it done again. Obviously this can only be done so many times, but as long as it’s working and there are no side effects, why not?

So, about 1½ years ago, I had it done again. Three shots in each knee over a six week period. It worked again. The effects were not quite as long lasting, but it still worked. When the pain started to return a few months ago, I just sort of “bit the bullet” and kept on going. I knew the longer I could go before the next series of shots, the more effective and long lasting the next series was likely to be.

Finally, three weeks ago, in preparation for all the upcoming walking in Europe in November, I started the current series. I’ve had three shots in my right knee so far.

As I prepared to leave the doctor’s office last week, the insurance lady stopped me and asked if I could come into her office so we could talk. In I went and we sat down to chat. It seems that my insurance, good old Blue Shield, is not covering the Synvisk treatments. Much to my astonishment, I learned that they had NEVER covered the shots and the doctor had been writing them off his books as a loss. They never tried to collect from me. (I told you he was one of the good guy doctors.)

However, as I’m now into my third series of shots and they have once again received a denial from Blue Shield, they felt it was time to talk to me. I received the incredible news that these shots cost $517.00 EACH and, since Blue Shield is in a denial mode, they had decided they were going to have to ask me for payment. I can’t believe they haven’t asked me before!

Anyway, to say I am pissed off at Blue Shield would be a minor understatement. I just checked The Spouse’s paystub and we are paying $1,264.80 A MONTH for insurance coverage for the two of us. We have a POS plan and if we stayed within the HMO network, we would have no problem. The doctors in the network would never have recommended Synvisk. However, that’s the whole point of a POS plan (Point of Service). At ANY point of service, you can receive medical care. The only difference is you will have to pay a higher co-pay and satisfy a yearly deductible. (Did I mention that I teach in the healthcare field and that I am, among other things, a former medical biller? These people don’t know who they’re fucking with! I understand health insurance.)

My rheumatologist is not in my network, but that shouldn’t matter in the slightest because of the type of plan that we have. I willingly pay him the higher co-payment on each visit and I have satisfied my yearly deductible through his office and so the plan should just “kick-in” and pay. However, they are denying, not because I’m “Out of Network”, but because they are calling Synvisk a “medication” as opposed to a “treatment” and said medication is not on the approved list of pharmaceuticals. The doctor’s office is filing an appeal and talking to “their agent” at Blue Shield so maybe they will be able to get it straightened out. If not, I will be taking over the problem.

Blue Shield is going to be very sorry if they have to start dealing with me. I will probably be sorry too, for fighting an organization as big as Blue Shield will be daunting. However, I WILL sue them and let them explain their rationale to a judge. I can be such a bitch when I’m right. They are deliberately classifying a “treatment” as a “medication” in order to avoid payment. Synvisk is NOT medication. It is a replacement for the missing synovial fluid in my knees. If they had to replace something else that was missing in or on my body, I wonder if they would try to call that a medication as well? An arm? A leg? A transplant? Etc. etc.

Clearly, these idiots would rather pay thousands and thousands of dollars for major surgery (knee replacement) than pay $3000 every year or so to keep me going in comfort. I wonder where they hire the rocket scientists that make the rules for that company?

Probably from my University……………

No Amount of Help Is Enough

2007-09-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

My classroom is a melting pot. Truly. I have more unpronounceable names on my roster than you can imagine. Calling role is so much fun. However, even more challenging than trying to say their name correctly, is calling on students to whom English is a second language. It’s embarrassing if I don’t understand them. I don’t want to stand there saying What? What? But at the same time, I can’t ignore them, I can’t fail to let them present things to the class. I only wish they could speak English more clearly and legibly. I have learned. I let them present. I nod sagely, I smile a lot and sometimes I understand and sometimes I don’t. It’s truly a problem.

But now I seem to face an even bigger problem. My classes are “blended” meaning they are partially in the classroom, partially online. In this day and age, even grammar school kids often know more about computers than I do. Having my students do all kinds of things on the Web has never been a problem. But I’m finding that each semester, as my classes are filled with more and more students from other countries, the level of computer literacy is dropping rapidly.

This year in one of my classes, each student must create a home page. On that home page they must link to a blog where they will do creative writing exercises. They have a choice of making that blog open only for them and me to read, or to leave it open for all to read. It’s their choice. I don’t really care either way. The American students in my class, the ones that had their early childhood education in this country, have performed this simple exercise with the greatest of ease. Many of my foreign students are struggling to an amazing degree. These are COLLEGE students that expect to head out into the American workplace and have a successful career in just a few short years. For many of them their University email address is the first email address they’ve ever had. I truly don’t think they grasp to what degree the computer has taken over American business life and to what degree it must be part of their lives if they are to have successful careers as American executives.

In an effort to help, I have taken my laptop into the classroom and using the overhead projector, I have walked them through setting up a home page, setting up a blog, adding a link, etc. etc. I have made it as plain and simple as I know how and yet, I have homepages with a link that doesn’t work or with a link that connects me to some webpage other than their blog. I have some homepages that are fancy and decorated and colorful and link me right to their blog where they have started writing. But the others? It’s not good.

I don’t know exactly how to help them. I repeat my directions. I answer emails such as this:

hi proffessor (Lucy’s Mom),
this is “joe”,
thank you so much for email me back,
I also created again homepage,
the blog tittle is: XYXYXYXY
the blog address is: XYXYXYXYXY
also I post a sentence such as: "this is test and I am checking to see blog"
I do appriciate check my home page again, and let me know,because I want it to be ready.
thank you so much ,
have a good day.
“joe” :)

“Joe” is so sweet! And he tries so hard! And he so wants to please me! But it is wrong. The homepage is blank, the link doesn’t work and he doesn’t understand. I wrote him back. I once again gave step by step detailed instructions. I await his response.

This is frustration with a capital “F”.

A Strange Summer Afternoon and Other Things of Note

2007-09-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

As hard as this may be to believe, it is raining outside! Not just raining, but pouring, and a short while ago there was lightning and thunder to go along with the rain! I do realize that for all you folks out there who live in “normal” places where you have equal doses of rain and sun, you’re probably wondering…”what the hell’s wrong with that woman? Has she never seen rain?”

Well, here’s the scoop. Remember that old song from the ‘70’s called “It Never Rains in Southern California In The Summertime?” Well, it’s true. It almost never rains in the summertime around here. I haven’t seen rain since sometime last winter and, even then, it was not impressive. We’re in the midst of a long dry spell around these parts.

When the rain started coming down earlier and it hit the metal patio cover with that loud tip-tap, tip-tapping sound, at first I didn’t even know what it was. I was like, “what the hell is that noise?” Then I realized what it was and, with a start, I also realized that we had several things lying in the back yard that should not be out in the rain and off I ran. See, in this part of the world you never think about rain. You just never factor it into your plans. If you decide to have a picnic or a backyard barbecue, it’s not a problem. It won’t rain. The only question is how hot will it be and who’s bringing the beer? Want to go to a ballgame out at Dodger Stadium? Don’t worry about rain gear, just bring the sun screen and a wallet full of money so you can afford the cold drinks. Hankering for an afternoon at the beach? Just jump in the car and take off. Worst problem will be sunburn and sand in the floor of the car. I am totally and completely unused to factoring in the possibility of rain when I make plans. It’s a way of life. The Hollywood Bowl is an open BOWL carved out of the mountains above L.A. and it has no cover folks and they have concerts there all summer long. No one ever gives it a second thought. We don’t get rained out. Not gonna happen.

So, see, this is a very strange afternoon.

**********
If someone had told me that you could do this, I would not have believed them. However, yesterday, I sprained my wrist playing golf. (yes, despite my incredibly busy week, I somehow always find time for a game of golf!) Who the hell sprains their wrist playing golf? Answer: I do. I couldn’t believe it. Somehow, I swung my club the wrong way and suddenly in mid swing, I got this piercing pain in my left wrist. It hurt like hell then, it still hurts today. It is swollen. I have a sprained wrist. Damnedest thing I ever heard of……

**********

I didn’t realize that dogs have the ability to be photogenic, or not, just like people. However, my niece is redesigning my blog for me and as part of the process I am picking out pictures of my dogs to be used in the header. As I am sorting through unbelievable numbers of pictures, I realize that I have almost no bad pictures of Lucy. That is the most photogenic dog I’ve ever seen. She always looks good. My Dad was like that. He never took a bad picture. Always looked good. Now my other dog, Meggie, and the older pictures of Bess, are more bad than good. You know, the kind of pictures only a mother could love. Finding a really excellent picture of Meg, who is extremely cute, has proven to be very challenging. She always seems to look like a dork! I took her out in the yard today and took a couple dozen pictures. One of them is okay. None are spectacular. Since she was there, I also took some snaps of Lucy. They are all good. No doubt about it. Lucy got the photogenic gene.

**********

I won a grant at school that allows me to have a teaching assistant this year. The grant pays the assistant and I get the wonderfulness of having a helper. The grant encourages teachers to be more experimental in their classrooms and I am doing so, however, the experimentation causes a great deal more paperwork, hence the teaching assistant. There were only a limited number of grants and I had to jump through lots of hoops to get this, so I’m very pleased to have won. Other teachers in many different curriculums will be adding these new and challenging requirements to their courses also, but only a few of us are lucky enough to have assistants to help with the extra work. I had to choose my own assistant from our very large student population. I thought of several different students that I know that might fill the bill but when I told them about all the grant requirements in terms of how many hours they must work, meetings they must attend, etc. etc. it came down to just a few that were willing and able. I chose the one I thought would do the best job. Last night I sent her a very complicated assignment that I needed her to do for me. If I had done it myself it would have taken many hours and possibly days to complete. I sent her the assignment late last night. This morning I awoke to find the completed project in my email. It is not only completed, it is perfect. I chose well! Yeah!! She’s going to be a BIG help to me.

******************************************

I’ve been on the computer most of the day. Setting up a student website, paying all the 1st of the month bills, catching up on my blog reading, cleaning up mountains of email and now, writing this post. My aching wrist and my swollen ankles tell me it’s time to leave the desk and hit the recliner, so off I go.

Until next time…………….

Neglect

2007-08-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been ignoring you my dear blog readers and Internet friends. You are very important to me and I don’t want you to feel neglected.

However, it’s the first week of school and my life, at the moment, is a zoo, so please forgive me. I will be back to my regular writing very soon. Meanwhile, just short blurbs for a week or two.

Between my packed classrooms, students adding and dropping, trying to find a teacher’s aide to work for me, attending faculty meetings, answering no less than 5 millions questions from students covering everything from “can I add this course?” to “do you know where the bathroom is?” to “what do you think I should major in?”, I’ve been just a tad busy.

Hang in there. I’ll be back and with a new design as well. My wonderful and talented niece is helping me to give my blog a much needed facelift. She is a very talented graphic artist and will be doing blog designs on the side to pick up some extra money, so when she gives me the word, I’ll give you the link and you can go there and get some very creative work done for YOUR blog.

Those Damn People Seem Determined to Try and Kill Our Dogs With Their Sickening Contaminated Food

2007-08-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

I receive several newsletters in my email box and today I got one from the ASPCA. In it is information about yet another dog food recall. This one hasn’t hit the news big time just yet, or at least I hadn’t heard about it before now. Apparently, once again, the Chinese are making our pet’s food with contaminated and/or poison ingredients.

Follow this link to read about the Chicken Jerky treats and their danger.
http://www.topix.com/forum/source/newsday/TPSS8QRGJM6D4MVVA/p25

I have been so careful with my girl’s food since all this poison dog food stuff has been in the news. I cook for them at home and mix their home made stew into a carefully researched kibble, Canidae. I bake them cookies, but once in a while, I have still been trying to get them some of the chewy treats that they enjoy so much. I read the label on the Waggin Train Chicken Jerky Treats very carefully and it says they are made of pure 100% chicken breast. These treats came from Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club or Costco. Could have been any of the three and all three are specifically named as selling the poison jerky.

Now I read in this recall information that dogs who eat these dangerous treats are having terrible bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Some of them are desperately sick and some of them have died. Once again China’s careless, dangerous manufacturing practices are killing our pets.

When I purchased these treats, I read the package with the greatest of care and I still missed the teeny tiny print that said “made in China” or I NEVER would have bought these damn things. I just threw the remainder of the current package away. However, my girls have been eating these particular treats for quite a while.

We did have one episode of throw-up and vomiting in the last few weeks, but since the very nature of dogs is to occasionally eat disgusting things, I didn’t worry about it too much. It seemed to clear up and, at the moment, both girls are fine. But I am so angry!

Who can you trust when it comes to food safety for your pets??? Apparently no one. I’m now casting a suspicious eye on the kibble that I feed them with their stew. I feel they need the vitamins and minerals that they get from this product, so I guess I will continue feeding it and just watch very, very carefully for any problems or any news about this kibble.

I guess it’s time to break out the smoker and see what I can do about making tough, chewy dog treats on my own from human grade food. I’ve begun to believe my own cooking is the only thing I can truly trust for them.

I know there are many of you out there who don’t really understand pet owner’s fears and anger and concern, so let’s put it another way. What if it were Gerber Baby Food????

And Then The Brakes Failed..........

2007-08-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

Well, dear friend in Blogland, it’s been a rough week. What with returning home from my trip and having to deal with the realities of life, school starting, having classrooms literally bulging at the seams with students and then, the piece de resistance, getting run over by a golf cart.

Yes, all in all, a tough week. But Hallelujah!! I went to WW this morning and was astounded to discover that I actually lost weight this week. Amazing. Since stress=food in my life, the fact that I lost weight after a week like this is a testament to the change in my habits. When stress is gnawing on my life, I apparently have learned not to gnaw on food in response. For me, that’s a big accomplishment.

Now as to how some of these things occurred: school started because it’s just that time of year and, unfortunately, summer vacation has to end at some point in time, not only for the students but for the profs as well. Let me assure you that they did not dread heading back to the classroom any more than I did. That’s not to say I don’t love my job, for I do, but if one is going to choose between textbooks, spread sheets, computers and classrooms full of students or a sunny afternoon on the golf course or at the beach, I believe the choices are fairly obvious. However, I’m quickly getting back into the swing of work life and am already planning, writing, reading, doing PowerPoint presentations, etc. etc. Life at work has returned for another semester.

This semester we have an overabundance of students. For the University this is a good thing. For the individual prof it is not so much fun. I know I am spoiled. Many college level teachers lecture to classrooms with a 100, or more, students in attendance. However, I’m used to small classes of 20 or so where I can give the kids lots of individual attention, learn all their names and really begin to feel a rapport with each one. But this semester, it’s not happening. My classes are full up and the University has had to raise the upper limits of attendance in order to accommodate all those wanting to sign up. My classes have literally doubled in size. Twice as many students, means twice as much work. I’ll survive, but I don’t imagine I’ll learn all their names and the classes will undoubtedly have a much more impersonal feel to them. Not my favorite way to teach.

As to the “golf cart incident”, it was, of course, an accident, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. My friends and I had just checked in and were loading our bags on the carts, digging out balls and gloves and tees and just generally getting ready to play. We were next up on the tee. As I stood at the back of my cart, rooting around in my golf bag for supplies, my friend in the other cart, came driving up behind us. A perfectly logical thing to do. However, as he approached me, and the back of our cart, he put on the brakes and nothing happened. Nothing! The cart kept right on coming, directly at my unsuspecting backside. He screamed a warning and I turned, but it was too late. He plowed right into me and I went flying. Unfortunately, we were still at the clubhouse and not yet down into the soft green grass, so I went flying on the concrete patio area. Ouch!!

As his cart plowed into mine and into me, it obviously stopped and went no further for it had met the proverbial rock and a hard place, better known as my ass and the bumper of my cart. Not that I’m saying my ass is like a “rock” (Ha!), but it sounds good. Anyway, he leaped out of the cart and came racing to my side. He was terribly distraught and kept apologizing and wanting to make sure I was okay.

As I slowly stood up and regained my footing, I checked all the various body parts and everything seemed to be in working order. Of course everyone in the surrounding area came racing over to make sure I was alright and you know how embarrassing that is. After a fall in public one tends to just leap up and say I’m fine, I’m fine, even if you aren’t, just because you’re upset and you most assuredly do NOT want to be the center of attention. That’s exactly how I felt. If I had been dying of pain, I think I would have kept saying I’m fine, I’m fine, just so everybody would go away. But, fortunately, I really did seem to be okay. This morning I’m a little stiff and I have a few new bruises, but overall, it certainly could have been much worse. Fortunately for all concerned, I landed primarily on my butt, which has lots of padding. Had I gone forward and landed on my knees, it would have been a disaster. You’ll recall those painful, arthritic knees of mine. Landing on them, on concrete, is something that makes me hurt to even think about. Yowch!!

Moral: don’t trust the brakes on golf carts. Hopefully they’ll work, but they just might not. Try not to put yourself in a position where if they fail, you’re in trouble. As I write that I think about the fact that I play at one course that is VERY hilly and if the brakes on a cart failed there, I could be heading down the side of a mountain. What a lovely thought!! I guess when you rent equipment you pretty much have to keep your fingers crossed that it’s in good shape.

Surely the people that run a golf course located in a steep and hilly mountain area would make sure the brakes work very well. Wouldn’t they??

First Prize

2007-08-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

When I was just a little thing, I won first prize in a baby beauty contest. What made the winning just a bit unusual was that it was my Dad who entered me. In the picture below, you’ll notice he is the only Dad in the winning line-up. As a matter of fact, he was the only Dad in the whole contest! I guess I was a real “Daddy’s Girl” for the first 8 years of my life. Then my siblings started arriving on a regular basis and he shared the love and attention all around. However, for those first few years, it was nice being the sole child star in his universe.

Once Upon A Time On A Hot September Day

2007-08-20T17:11:00.000-07:00

He tilted his head back and took another big swig of the moonshine. “My God, that’s good stuff”, he commented to no one in particular. He leaned back against the straw bale, continuing to hold the jug in his hand.

As his eyes wandered around the group there in the barn, he saw his brothers, R.B., George, Navare, Charlie, Troy, Verlon and Bill in various stages of inebriation. The Sheffield boys, all eight of them, were well known for their good looks, their hard work and their fine moonshine. They had friends all over Letcher County, but they and the Houghton boys were the closest. They worked together, chased girls together and drank together.

The Houghton boys weren’t in much better shape than the Sheffields, as they too had been generously sampling from the jug Dewey held in his lap. Their family was not as lucky in the looks department as the Sheffields, but they could chase girls and drink moonshine with the best of them. The friendship of the two families was old and strong. The children of the Sheffields and the Houghtons, in past generations, had intermarried, so in many cases, they were not only friends, they were family.

The families were huge by any standards as the Sheffields had six sisters, as well as the eight boys drinking in the barn. The Houghton boys were seven strong with eight sisters at home. Huge families were the norm of the day. Sometimes, with so many varied and complicated connections, it was hard to remember if they were second cousins, or third cousins or, with wives dying young in childbirth, whether they were step-aunts or a fourth cousin twice removed. Whatever they were, they were friends. It was extremely confusing to try to remember all the varied connections and bloodlines running through these hills. What was just a given was that they were all of a kind. Mountain men. Kentucky men. Men who lived hard, worked hard and played hard.

The barn they were drinking in was old and the pillars that held up the roof leaned at a decided angle. However, the roof was sound and the corn and hay stored in there stayed dry when the thundering summer cloudbursts passed through. On this day, however, there was no rain. The sky was a clear, deep, blue with fat, little puffy clouds drifting gently by overhead. If the men had stopped talking, they could have heard the birds in the nearby forest or the rooting of the sow in her pen down the way.

Years later, when Dewey looked back on this day, he always remembered that clear blue sky and the smell of the hay in the barn. He remembered the feeling of being 19 years old and slightly drunk and he remembered when the fight started.

Farish Houghton was the drunkest of the Houghton boys and when Dewey heard Farish raise his voice, he turned his head to see what the trouble was. Farish and Charlie were squaring off over at the side, right by where the ladder to the loft started up. Farish was yelling, quite loudly, “you can’t say that about my sister, you shut your filthy mouth!” But Charlie was laughing and he was taunting Farish. Charlie had a few drinks in him, but Farish was much the drunker of the two and also the one who was furious.

Farish lunged at Charlie and swung a large heavy fist that, fortunately, completely missed Charlie’s laughing, teasing face. If that big fist had landed, Charlie Sheffield would have had a broken nose. Charlie was always getting into trouble because of his smart mouth and his teasing ways and now, it appeared, he had teased the wrong man. Farish, drunk or not, was renowned far and wide for his fighting abilities and if he got hold of Charlie, there would be blood, without a doubt.

As Charlie backed away from Farish, continuing to taunt and tease, he found himself backing right up into the unmoving body of Farish’s brother. Charles felt two big hands planted in the middle of his back and he was shoved right straight into Farish’s arms.

Farish grabbed him around the middle and with a strength born of plowing fields and hauling heavy bales of hay, he lifted Charlie up in the air and body slammed him into the ground. Then, like a lion moving in for the kill, he dove on top of Charlie and began hammering his face, his head, his body, anything he could reach with those big, ham-like fists.

At first Charlie fought back valiantly, swinging his fists and kicking and thrashing violently as he tried to get Farish off of him. But Farish was a much bigger and stronger man and Charlie’s efforts slowly changed from offense to defense. He tried to cover his face and head, but Farish just kept pulling his hands away and punching him again.

The other men had formed a circle around the fighters and were cheering them and yelling for their favorite. In their drunken state they didn’t realize that Charlie was really getting hurt by the bigger man. “C’mon Charlie, hit him, you can do it,” yelled his brothers. “Get him Farish, punch him again!” screamed the equally excited Houghton boys. They were all laughing and yelling and making a huge amount of noise, when suddenly the barn doors were ripped open and a big man yelled, “What the hell is going on in here?”

The family patriarch, Bill Sheffield, had arrived.

Bill was a big man. One of the biggest in the county and he towered over most men with his 6’4” frame and his 230 pounds of solid muscle. He could pick up a full barrel of moonshine, swing it up onto his shoulder and gently set it down into a customer’s wagon with what appeared to be the greatest of ease. At the age of 55 he was still bigger and stronger than any of his sons. In the regular arm wrestling matches that took place on a quiet evening, in front of the fireplace, only Dewey, so far had come close to besting his Dad. Dewey was also going to be a huge man but he didn’t have his full growth and strength yet and his Dad could still take him.

As Bill strode into the barn, the circle parted and Bill saw what was happening to his son. Just as the circle opened Farish took a round house swing and when it landed on Charlie’s face, his cheek split open and more blood joined what was already there.

“Get the hell off of him you stupid bastard!” “You’re twice his size.” "What’s the matter with you boy, don’t you know how to fight fair?”

With those words, Bill strode toward the tangled twosome on the ground and grabbed Farish’s collar. He jerked him upright and off the limp and unmoving Charlie. As he threw Farish aside, he knelt beside his son, and using part of his shirttail, he tenderly wiped the blood from Charlie’s face. The boy was unconscious, his nose was smashed and his eyes were already blackening. There was blood trickling from his ear and one arm was lying at a funny angle. He turned to Navare and ordered, “get a bucket of cold water and a rag and clean your brother up. Once he’s awake, we’ll see how bad it is.” As he looked around the circle of young men he said, “I can’t believe you idiots stood here and let this happen. A fight is one thing, but he’s about beat Charlie half to death.”

Then he got to his feet and slowly turned to Farish.

All the color had drained from Farish’s face and, suddenly, he didn’t feel drunk anymore. The rage he saw in Bill Sheffield’s face made his blood run cold and he decided in an instant that his fighting mood was over. He turned and ran for the door, stopping only long enough to grab his things, which he had left lying there. Farish was afraid and rightly so. He knew if Bill Sheffield caught him, he would beat him to a pulp. Charlie was Bill’s favorite, so they said. So Farish ran.

With a roar, Bill took off after him with six of his sons right behind him. Navare stayed with Charlie, bathing his face with cold water and gently talking to the unconscious boy.

Farish ran as though his life depended on it and his feet flew as he raced through the trees, up the hill and leaped gracefully over the creek. But he could hear them behind him. They were whooping and hollering and the seven of them made as much noise as a herd of elephants as they raced through the forest after him.

As they ran, they snapped off branches on the underbrush and startled squirrels and rabbits who fled in the opposite direction. They smashed the leaves and ferns and wildflowers under their feet and they began to gain on Farish.

They were running up a slight rise and, whereas the Sheffields were hardened, tough, farmers who could work from dawn to dark and never slow down, Farish was somewhat of a dandy. If there was a way to get out of work, he would find it. He much preferred a drink and a good fight to a day of hard labor in the fields. Those many hours of thinking up ways to avoid work were showing now as his breathing quickened and his legs began to feel leaden. He knew he couldn’t run much farther. He was rapidly becoming exhausted. His heart was pounding, his breath was coming in short gasps and he was terrified.

As the Sheffields gained on him, they were yelling and whooping and hollering like a bunch of wild Indians. All the boys still had plenty of liquor in them and the excitement of the chase was now racing in all their blood. If they got hold of Farish it would be like a pack of wolves on a lone sheep.

Farish was running for his life, at least he felt that he was. Undoubtedly, that’s why it all happened. Why in a moment that sky turned from blue to dark gray; why in a heartbeat the chase was over and life would never be the same again for any of them.

As they crested the hill, they came within yards of Farish. The chase was almost over. The Sheffields yelled in wild excitement and Farish’s heart felt like it would beat right out of his chest. As hands reached out to grab Farish and pull him to the ground, he whirled and the shotgun in his hand exploded.

The bullet hit Bill right in the middle of the chest and he went down to his knees and then fell forward into the dirt. Farish ran. Bill’s sons surrounded him, turned him over, picked him up and carried him home.

Bill died later that afternoon leaving a widow with fourteen children to raise.

Bill was my great grandfather, son of John, father of George, grandfather of George Jr., great grandfather of George III. George III is my brother.

Bill was a good man.

Out With The Old, In With The "New"

2007-08-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

Garage Sale fever struck once again yesterday and I went looking for a piece of furniture that I need. I hardly ever buy wooden furniture pieces brand new. Why pay top price when you can buy things like dining room tables, bed frames, dressers, cabinets, et al for a fraction of their original price and they are often in perfect condition? I have a whole different philosophy about overstuffed or “soft” furniture. That, I will only buy new, for what I think are obvious reasons. Wood is easily cleaned, cracks and crevices on an old couch or chair, not so easy.

Aaaaannnyway…..yesterday I went roaming around Craigslist looking for a china cabinet. I had just reached a point that I was tired of not having enough storage space in the kitchen and I decided to do something about it. Plus I thought it would be nice, as an extra bonus, to be able to display some of my beautiful glassware.

So I found a china cabinet I liked the looks of….large, shelves with glass doors on top, a flat center section for “stuff” like cookbooks, coffee mugs, a picture or two, etc. etc and then a large bottom for storage. The pictures weren’t too good, but I have learned from eBay that the majority of the world cannot take a decent picture. That doesn’t mean the item isn’t nice, it just means the owner is not a photographer. It was hard to find this particular kind of cabinet for almost all the china cabinets you see are primarily glass on the entire top and are designed for display, with some storage in the bottom. I really wanted that flat center section for cookbooks, the mixer, et al. This piece was planned to be a nice looking storage unit in the kitchen area with a bonus of being able to display some nice glass at the top. This kind of cabinet was not readily available in the selections on Craigslist, so when I saw this one at a reasonable price, I immediately called the guy and went to see it.

Since I felt fairly confident that it was what I wanted I took a couple of guys and a truck with me when I went to look. It was located a good distance away and I saw no point in making the trip twice, so I was prepared to buy and haul away on the spot. Only problem? The cabinet looked like shit. It would have had to be totally refinished before I would even carry it into the house. This is not a bad thing if the price were cheap, but it was not and the guy wouldn’t budge. Stupid man. Nobody in their right mind will pay $350 for that cabinet in the condition it’s in. But you can’t tell people how to run their lives, so me, my guys and the truck left, sans cabinet.

Since I was already in this area, I called The Spouse and had her check Craigslist again to see if there was anything else I might want to look at as long as I was there. The guys and I went and had lunch and in a little while The Spouse called back with a couple of leads.

I called one of the leads and then we headed over there to take a look. The cabinet was magnificent. A beautiful mahogany display cabinet with lots of glass on the top and a small amount of storage on the bottom. Not at all what I was looking for. So, I bought it. If this cabinet was worth a penny, it was worth $2000 and he was asking $150. I didn’t see how I could lose.

My wonderful helpers loaded up the cabinet, we brought it home to my house, they brought it in and I cleaned it up and loaded it with gorgeous glassware. It is spectacular. It is beautiful. I am delighted at how it looks. However, I still have no storage space in the kitchen, no place to put the cookbooks and the mixer. The numerous coffee cups from all over the world are still packed in boxes in the garage and the kitchen counters have way, way too much stuff on them. However, I do have a gorgeous curio/display cabinet.

Back to Craigslist.

Cabinet as it looked when I purchased it

Cabinet now full of treasures

The Deer

2007-08-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

She heard a soft splash and looked up from her work. With a gasp she saw the deer bending its large head down to the water to drink. The creature didn’t realize they were there.

It was quiet at the river’s edge with only the sounds of the rushing water as it raced and chased and splashed its way downstream in the bright, sparkling sunlight. The deer had come out of the dense, green woods right where the river took a sharp turn to the right, which is why it hadn’t seen them. The sounds of the river had covered the noise they were making as they soaked and pounded and rinsed the rapidly growing pile of clean clothes.

As they squatted there at the water’s edge, because of the angle of the river, they were actually looking at the animal’s haunches and backside while it drank. In their homespun clothes with the soft muted colors, they had blended right into the scenery at the edge of the water.

Sarah’s mind raced and her heart pounded. She was looking at enough meat to feed her family for many months. Her mother’s eye saw the deerskin for clothing that her children needed and the antlers to be made into knife handles and kitchenware. Her family needed this animal and all the food it could supply, but she had no weapon. The knife that she always wore at the band of her skirt would certainly not bring down a deer. John was gone, off into the woods with the boys, hunting for meat for the table, and he had taken the rifle with him.

With a tiny movement of her hand, she signaled her daughter to stay still. The girl’s eyes were wide with astonishment at the sight of the animal and with a slight nod of her head she acknowledged her mother’s hand signal. Even at the young age of 10, she knew the importance of meat for the table and she understood the significance of what they were looking at.

Sarah’s determination rose and, even thought the situation appeared hopeless, she looked around to see if she could see anything that might help her. Her eye lighted on the short handled, flat, broad paddle that John had made for her. He had smiled and kissed her on the forehead, when he gave it to her and said “Use this when you’re doin’ the washing instead of pounding on the rocks. It’ll be a lot easier on your hands.” She had been very skeptical of this “paddle thing” as she called it, but it had actually helped her to get their clothes clean with less effort and it was easier on her hands. He had been right.

While she squatted there, watching the deer, suddenly the animal stepped into the water and began to wade out into the river. At first Sarah was unsure of what she was seeing, confused as to what the animal was doing, but then, as it kept moving into deeper and deeper water it became obvious that it intended to swim to the other side. As the water began to deepen and the animal’s fur began to darken from the wetness, the deer began to swim.

Sarah straightened her back and stood up. The movement caught the deer’s eye and he turned his head and saw them there on the bank. For a moment terror flashed in his eyes. He tried to turn, to get back to the shore, to run from this danger. But it was too late. As he turned, in his haste to escape, he lost his footing on the soft and sandy bottom and the current caught him. Instead of turning back to the shore where he had waded in, he started drifting downstream straight towards Sarah.

In his moment of panic, with no secure footing on the bottom, he flailed in the water as he kept steadily being pushed by the current directly towards Sarah. He was trying to swim, to get to the other side, to get back to where he had come into the water, to go anywhere except closer to these unknown creatures who were standing on the shore staring at him, but inexorably the water pushed him towards them.

Sarah, full of resolve, picked up her washing paddle and waded into the water. She was determined that this deer was hers. God had sent this food her way and she was damn well not going to let it get away. The cold water climbed up her legs and soaked her long heavy skirts as she raised the washing paddle high over her head and waited.

She stood in the hip deep water, tense and tight as a bowstring, and as the terrified deer came within reach, she swung her paddle with all her might. Her blow landed on the animal’s snout and he let out a bellow of pain. He tried to swim away from her, but between his panic, his pain, and the current, he just thrashed about in the water and once again came within her reach.

Her second swing landed soundly on the top of his head and stunned the animal. He stopped thrashing and fighting the water and suddenly relaxed and began to float. At this point Sarah realized that if she didn’t do something, and do it very quickly, her “captive” was going to drift downstream and out of her reach. She dropped the washing paddle and grabbed the deer’s antlers. She watched helplessly as her paddle swirled in the current and started drifting downstream. “Oh well” she thought. John would just have to make her another one. The deer was more important.

She began to resolutely drag the limp animal towards the shore. The deer was large and heavy, but in the water, he floated, so his weight was manageable. Sarah’s heart was pounding so loud she could hear it in her own ears. The adrenaline was coursing through her bloodstream and she actually felt lightheaded. Her daughter, Elizabeth, was standing on the shore, bouncing up and down and squealing with excitement. “Mama caught a deer! Mama caught a deer! “ she kept yelling, over and over.

Sarah walked backwards, holding the antlers in both hands, as she dragged the animal through the water and towards the shore. Suddenly, the animal jerked its head and the antlers were roughly ripped out of her hands. The deer came back to consciousness and tried to regain its’ footing in the knee deep water. In an instant Sarah’s triumph turned to potential tragedy as she realized that in seconds the deer would find the bottom, stand, and run, and her chance would be lost. She reached for the knife at her waist.

In the moment between one breath and the next, she plunged the knife into the deer’s heart. She stabbed over and over again and the spurting blood covered her hands and arms and squirted onto the front of her dress. The deer stopped fighting, became limp again, and the battle was over. His dead eyes stared lifelessly at her.

Once again she grabbed the antlers and began dragging the deer towards the shore and towards her waiting daughter. When she got closer to the shoreline, the body began to drag on the bottom and the weight became too great for her to pull alone. “Come here”, she called to her daughter. “Help me. We have to get the body up on the shore and out of the water or else it’ll wash away. Daddy can come down and get it after he gets home, but we don’t want the body to wash down the river.”

Elizabeth drew back and made a gagging noise. The sight of all the blood both sickened and scared her. “Come here!” said her mother. “Now! I need your help.” Reluctantly the girl waded into the water, grabbed the antlers and helped her mother pull the body partially out of the water and up onto the shore line. She couldn’t stop looking into the dead animal’s eyes.

She thought of Roscoe, her dog who had died last year after he had protected Daddy from the bear. The bear had hurt him badly and even though Daddy had put salve on his wounds and tried to help him, within a couple of days, Daddy had said it was hopeless. Roscoe was suffering. Daddy had carried him out behind the barn and they had heard the crack of the rifle. She had snuck out of the house and watched while Daddy dug the hole and buried Roscoe. While the dog had lain on the ground, waiting to go into that terrible hole, his eyes had looked like the deer’s eyes. Elizabeth still had nightmares about Roscoe.

Once her prize was safely out of the water, Sarah sat down on the rocky shore. She realized her hands were shaking and her breath was coming in little short gasps. She felt like she had just run a mile without stopping. But she had a great big smile on her face. In her mind’s eye she was already cutting up the chunks of meat for venison stew and sewing the soft pliable deerskin into shirts and leggings for the boys.

Just wait ‘till John and the boys got home, she thought. She’d show them a thing or two about hunting.

She Flew Through The Air With The Greatest of Ease

2007-08-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

I’m back in the Golden State and once again creating this incredibly exciting blog post from my desktop computer.

My trip was smooth and effortless and I honestly think it was the fastest return trip I’ve ever made. Of course the fact that I was reading a fantastic novel with more of the exploits of Detective Harry Bosch, didn’t hurt a bit. The stewardess had to poke me to get my attention to find out if I wanted a drink. I was totally lost in the story. That does tend to make time go by fast.

We went through one rough patch of weather with lots of bouncing and jumping around the clouds, but that was the only flaw in a lovely day. Of course, the rough patch had to come when I was in the bathroom, and as I sat there hanging on for dear life, I had visions of the plane crashing and them finding my body glued to the toilet seat. Not a pretty picture. I don’t want to die with my pants around my ankles and blue toilet water splashed over my butt. Some dignity please.

But enough about fun things like plane crashes.

You’ll recall my exciting gold coin find. Well, I’ve decided to put it on eBay and see what happens. Since it is real gold, I will put a reserve on it and we’ll see what the general public thinks about an 85 year old service medallion made of 14K. Knowing the fickle public as I do from my years as an eBay seller, they may “eat it up” or they may totally ignore me and think it’s boring. I have no clue but I’ll let you know when I know.

Another item I found at the 127 that I have not mentioned here in the blog is some very cool cowboy boots. Actually, cowGIRL boots, but let’s not nitpick. They are Lucchese boots, are handmade, and, originally, those suckers were several hundred dollars a pair. I picked them up for $7.00 and they are in great shape. Also very cute in a black and red leather. I listed them for $29.95 and I already have a bid! Aren’t you excited by my good fortune? Well, okay, you don’t have to be, but I’m excited. I do like a good find that I can resell for 4 times, or more, of the original purchase price. It makes the whole eBay seller experience that much more fun.

On another note, Lucy, my moaning dog (see this post) was so thrilled to see me when I entered the house last night, that I believe she hit a new high on the moaning scale. That dog was both pathetic and sweet in her unrivaled joy at my homecoming. Both of the furry girls were ecstatic at my return, but nobody voices her joy quite like Lucy. The Spouse was equally glad to see me, but no moaning.

Well, duty calls as school starts next week and I still have a lot to do to get ready. I am incorporating some new activities into one of my classes and taking another class into a partial online mode, so I have to get the website set up and do a million other things as well. With that thought, I will leave you and get to work.

Tune in again soon. I like to see you stop by. Comments would be good too, if you have time.

Home Again, Home Again Jiggity Jog

2007-08-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

The Old Homestead

My time here in Kentucky is winding down and soon I will be heading back to my home in California. I look forward to my bed, my spouse, my dogs, my stuff. You know how it is, no matter how wonderful the place you visit is, there’s no place like home.

These last couple of weeks have been wonderful. Time with my family is always wonderful. We’re very lucky. We’re close, we all like and love each other and we enjoy spending time together. We do many fun things and, best of all, we never stop talking. We trip over each other’s words, we interrupt each other, we tell stories, we just never stop talking and I love it. It’s who we are.

But now, of course, everything is different because my Dad is gone. I went to the cemetery yesterday and, as I stood at his grave, I once again began to cry. I wrote a post a long while back wondering about if you ever stop crying. We are approaching the one year mark in a few weeks and the pain doesn’t seem to lessen. It becomes bearable. You can live with it, because, of course, you have no choice, but it doesn’t lessen. My regular readers (both of you) will recall that I lost my Dad and a beloved dog within weeks of each other last year and the loss has yet to become less painful. I cry over both of them with very, very little provocation. I await the day when living with the loss of them becomes easier. I miss them both so much.

Dad’s death has also precipitated another situation that takes getting used to. My brother and his wife have bought the “old family homestead” and it is now their home. My Mom continues to live here, and always will, but slowly the house is changing and becoming the home of my sibling, rather than the home of my parents. It feels right at the same time that it feels strange. My parent’s home was always “my” home, simply because Mom and Dad were there. However, my sibling’s home belongs to him and his wife, and I have become a visitor in my own room upstairs. I am equally loved and welcomed and I feel sure that this will never change, no matter whose name is on the deed, but, psychologically, it just “feels” different. This is no longer my second home, my parent’s home, my home away from home. It is my brother’s home and I am a welcome guest. A very different feeling. Not bad, just different.

And so my time here draws to a close. Tomorrow we are all getting together for more eating, more gabbing, more enjoying each other. Then I spend Monday doing laundry, getting organized, running those last minute errands with my Mom and packing suitcases. I’m sad to go and I’m glad to go. Mixed feelings.

Update: If you recall the last post about the coin and the locket found at the 127 sales, here’s more info. The coin is indeed 14k and is worth the price of an ounce of gold. At the moment that’s about $670 an ounce so I guess that makes it THE treasure of the year since I only paid $2 for it. The locket is not gold but it is old, so it too is interesting.

More blogging to come when I once again reach that Golden State and the lovely Pacific Ocean.

The Fat Lady Has Sung.....................

2007-08-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

Well, the 2007 edition of the 127 yard sale is history. The 400 miles of bargains, deals, finds and treasures has been worked and reworked. The incredible buys have been made. The buyers have returned to their living rooms to spread out all their precious loot in the center of the floor and admire it. The sellers have folded their tents and gone stealing back to their homes and shops. All the crap that didn’t sell is going back into the basement or the attic or the garage or back onto the shelves of their junk shops and antique stores. All involved, both buyers and sellers, are unbelievably glad to be back in the air-conditioning.

The heat has been a palpable thing these last few days. It has been scorching hot with temperatures well into the high 90’s with matching humidity. We walked around farmer’s fields searching for treasures, with bodies slippery from sweat, accompanied by wet clothes and red faces. We drank ice water, sucked on snow cones and overheated our cars with air conditioning breaks. I took my own portable seat along with me so I could take sitting breaks in the shade of a tree and that helped some. However, nothing but returning indoors to air conditioned homes, could give relief from the heat. I have to wonder why the planners of this event don’t move it into the late Fall so all could enjoy cool, pleasant Fall weather rather than the mindless, baking heat of summer. The dog days of summer, as my grandmother used to call them, are no time for outdoor activities of any kind except for swimming.

I found lots of bargains and have several beautiful glass pieces already listed on my eBay site. There is a link at the side if you want to take a look. I continue to list things and will for several more days. However, I don’t think this year’s finds will suddenly reveal any unexpectedly valuable pieces. I tend to think the bowls, discussed in my last post, may have been a once in a lifetime find. I will, of course, continue to hope for another such treasure, but the reality is, finding that kind of thing is very rare.

I did find a couple of interesting items this year, but it’s not glassware. I also love to “root” through old jewelry. The vast majority of the time, it is costume jewelry and of little value but, occasionally, you find a piece that may have potential. I found a couple of such pieces in my travels these last few days and I intend to gather information about them to see what I might have. Both items cost next to nothing and it will be interesting to see if they turn out to be anything.

The first thing is a coin. It is on a loop with a ring and appears as though it may have been something that would go on a man’s watch chain of long ago. The front of the coin (medallion?) has a profile of H.J.Heinz and the words around the edge say “H.J.Heinz Company, Established 1869”. The reverse side is engraved “Faithful Service, John A. Spence, 1901-1921”. It would appear to me to be something given to a faithful employee for 20 years of service to the company. The coin appears to be “gold”. Whether it is real gold or bronze or whatever is unknown at this time. But it seems very interesting. I’ve already done a small amount of research on the Net, but can’t really find anything relevant. If anyone reading this thinks they might know something about the coin, please leave a comment. Here’s what it looks like:

The other item that I found of interest is a locket. Again it is gold appearing but it is not marked as 14K. It actually has no markings at all, but it is heavy and seems of a very high quality for costume jewelry. It may be exactly what it was sold as, a cheap piece of costume jewelry. However, it looks like more. I plan to have it looked at by a jeweler and I’ll let you know what he has to say. Maybe it’s a treasure! Only time will tell. Here’s what it looks like:

So, another year has come and gone and the adventure and excitement of “the 127 hunt” continues. I’m already looking forward to next year. Who knows what valuable antique may be lying around, just waiting for me to find it!!

I’ll update you on the coin and the locket as soon as I know anything interesting to tell.

The Bowls

2007-08-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Every year, for the last several years, I come to Kentucky just about this time. The end of July and 1st week of August is when the famous (infamous?) 127 four hundred mile yard sale is held. Since my Mom lives right off Highway 127 and I love garage saleing, it is a given that I will be here every year. The big sale formally starts tomorrow.

This crazy sale runs from Ohio all the way down through Georgia and anyone and everyone who lives along Highway 127 saves all their “junk” and has their garage sales and yard sales at this time of the year. Of course, selling of this magnitude also brings out the dealers from far and wide and, between the two, there are literally thousands of people on the roadside and out in the fields and meadows and parking lots along the highway selling their stuff and trying to make a buck.

Then, on the other side of that sales table are the people like me who are out looking for a “treasure”. You know what they say. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and I do love treasure hunting. Since I’m an ebay seller, I’m always looking for interesting things that I think I can resell for a profit as well as things that I personally think I can’t live without.

Well, about three years ago I was here, in Kentucky, for the 127 sale. I was out and about searching for that year’s big find. (I should tell you here that I have a thing for old glass and I love colored glass in particular. So anytime I see that glassware sparkling in the sunlight, I’m off and running to see what I can see.)

So I was out in the middle of one of the big meadows where hundreds of vendors have gathered together to make an almost swap-meet/flea market type atmosphere and I was walking along just looking and eyeballing and fingering and checking things out. It was still very early in the sale days. Actually, I think it was still in the early bird stages and the “formal” sales hadn’t even started yet. However, the old “early bird gets the worm” theory resonates very much with me so I like to check things out the minute people are pulling their stuff out of the boxes and setting up their displays.

As I strolled along I happened upon a booth where a lady was just getting set up. She had about half her stuff out and she was clearly one of the sellers in the garage sale category as opposed to a formal dealer. She was hauling out mountains of household stuff and clothes and toys and just about any kind of junk you could imagine from an old pick-up truck. I gravitated immediately over to the glass items and dishes which were piled high on a table. Everything on the table was filthy dirty and I really couldn’t see much as the organization of the table had no rhyme or reason to it and things were piled on top of things. Nonetheless, I began to look around and do a little rooting and digging. I didn’t mind the dirt for you don’t find treasure without a little digging. I ran across a pile of bowls and looked through them finding that several of them were colored glass. I found a couple of bowls that I liked as they had some sort of pattern in the glass, but it was really hard to tell what the pattern might be since the bowls were caked with dirt and grime. However, I thought they had potential so, after examining them to make sure they weren’t cracked or chipped, I held them up and asked her what she wanted for the bowls. She said $1.50 each would be fine, so I gave her $3.00 and she bagged them up for me. She was happy, I was happy. I strolled on to the next booth.

When I got home, I put the two bowls I had purchased into a bucket of soapy water and let them soak. The dirt was encrusted and caked and a simple rinsing would not do the cleaning job. They had to be soaked and cleaned gently with a brush to get all the crud out of the creases and corners of the design.

Once they were sparkling clean, I was truly very pleased with my purchase. The bowls were brightly colored, sparkled beautifully in the sunlight and each of them had a delicate intricate pattern. I felt sure I could sell them on eBay and make a nice profit.

I have a small library of glass books and I went through them trying to identify the patterns on the bowls. One of the bowls was easily identified and I was thrilled out of my mind to discover it was worth several hundred dollars. I listed it on eBay and it sold for $750.00. To say I was ecstatic would be a minor understatement. I was just tickled to death!!

The other bowl I simply could not identify. I went through every book I had, I did research on the Internet, I tried every way I knew to find out what that pattern was. No luck. Finally I just decided I would put it on eBay and let the collectors tell me what the pattern was. I figured it didn’t matter if it went for a fairly small price because I had already made a “killing” on the other bowl and I would be a very happy girl no matter what it sold for.

Anything that this second bowl sold for would be gravy as far as I was concerned. However, I had a “feeling” that it MIGHT be valuable since the other one had been, so even though I listed it very cheaply, I put a reserve on it. I was not going to let it go for a song. It was too pretty.

I listed the bowl that evening for $9.99 with a $500.00 reserve. When I got up the next morning the reserve price had already been passed and it continued to climb. Every hour the bids went higher. There were numerous people fighting for it. As the days passed I thought I would surely have the big one before the end of the auction. Finally, the last hours arrived and several dealers were fighting it out. An antiques dealer in California won the prize.

Come to find out the bowl was one of only five that are known to be in existence. It sold for over $2300.00 dollars!! I was told that if it had been in an antique shop rather than in an online auction, it could easily have been sold for $5000.00. I suspect the dealer who bought it from me turned right around, doubled the price and sold it again to some collector.

To say I was excited and pleased about the whole experience would be a minor understatement.

So that’s my bowl story. My big 127 adventure of a few years ago has now been shared with you. Now it’s time for this year’s 127 sale. I’m in Kentucky. Today I went shopping.

I bought a bowl.

Haul in The Suitcases From the Garage, It's Time to Pack Again

2007-07-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

Well, once again I am heading back East to visit the family. I love going home and I will so enjoy being with my Mom and brothers and sisters, plus all the extended family. We are truly a close family and when we can all be in the same place at the same time, it is a good thing.

However, I sure don’t enjoy what I have to go through to get there.

The laundry, the packing, the organizing, the 3 AM arising on travel day, the long, boring, slow, packed freeway trip to the airport, the security crap you have to go through once you arrive at said airport, the handling of heavy baggage, (since I’m genetically incapable of packing light), the searching of all my stuff, and sometimes, the searching of my person.

Yeah, security boys and girls, right, this gray-haired, limping, arthritic, Caucasian granny type is the one you should be worrying about and frisking. And since I forgot and left my pocket knife in the bottom of my purse and you never even noticed, why are we doing this anyway? You seem much more worried about the fact that I have a small bottle of hand lotion than the fact that I’m unintentionally carrying a knife. I fully appreciate that you are trying to keep us safe, but I sometimes think the whole security thing is a joke. If a terrorist truly wants to get something bad onto a plane, he will, one way or the other. It seems to me that the security guards are much too worried about my hand lotion or bottle of water to pay attention to the real concerns.

After I finally get through security, there is more fun to be had with the unbelievably long walk to my gate, the long lines as people jostle to get onto the plane, the idiots who try to put the front end of a car into the overhead compartments, or the equally bright ones who try to cram an oversized suitcase under the seat in front of them into an area meant for a purse or a backpack, the arguments over an assigned seat because some airport flunky assigned the same seat to two people, the crying babies, the yelling children, the slobs who think cut off jeans, flip flops, uncombed hair and a dirty t-shirt are suitable to travel in, the people who are carrying a fragrant pizza that I’d like to rip out of their hands, the idiots who sit down in front of me and test the seat to see if it will lie back so that I end up with their head in my lap, the person who thought their perfume or aftershave smelled really good so they decided that if they used a gallon of it, it would smell even better, the guy with BO who, even though he’s sitting two rows away, is slowly fogging up the entire area with his lovely odor, and on and on and on. I’ve flown back and forth across our country many times and these things I write about are not only true, they are but the tip of the iceberg. When you put yourself out there “among ‘em” you will have “experiences”, I guarantee it. The joys of intermingling with the traveling public.

And then, of course, there are the joys of actually being on the plane where I am allowed to pay $10 for a dry sandwich or go hungry, where I have to pay $5 for earphones to watch a movie I didn’t want to see anyway, where I (the pee queen of the West) get the privilege of wedging my rather large ass into a very tiny closet they call a bathroom, and hoping I have enough room on either side of my body to actually get my pants up and down, while also hoping some idiot hasn’t peed on the toilet seat. In between trips to the closet, I have the fun of sitting with my knees under my chin and my butt squeezed into a seat meant for a slim 20 year old. Being slim and being age 20 are ancient history for me in case you didn’t know.

As the hours pass and my arthritic knees begin to kill me, I try walking up and down the aisle to relieve the stiffness and, of course, I get numerous dirty looks along the way. As in, why don’t you sit down and stop moving all over the place, you’re disturbing my reading/computer game/movie watching, etc. etc.

And all this assumes a smooth, trouble free flight. I’ve been on those lovely flights where the turbulence makes you feel like your stomach is in your mouth or like the elevator just dropped 10 floors unexpectedly, or like you might like to return that very dry sandwich that they “gave” you a couple of hours ago. Those flights where, on your way to the closet, it is impossible to walk without slamming into people on either side of the aisle as you rock and roll your way down the walkway.

Then, let us not forget, the transfers in either Atlanta or Charlotte, where, invariably my plane from California has arrived late and instead of the hour layover and leisurely walk I had planned, I have 15 minutes to get to the gate, which is 2 or 3 miles away on another concourse, and I have to haul ass or miss my connection. Do you have any idea how big the Atlanta or Charlotte airports really are? It’s a nightmare for anyone who is not capable of a fast walk or run. My days of running a 10 minute mile never existed and now? It’s hopeless. And yes, I use the little shuttle carts when possible, but when they tell me the cart will be there in 10 minutes and my connecting flight is on the other side of the airport and is leaving in 15 minutes, I can’t wait.

And, of course, that connecting flight is on a “regional jet”, which translated means you are going from a 747 or larger onto a tinker toy sized airplane that has even tinier seats, a tinier bathroom, no room in the overhead compartment for much more than a book and one stewardess who is overworked and stressed. There is no “entertainment” and the engines are so loud you think they are about 12 inches from your ear. This is the time to put in your earplugs, get out a good book and, oh yeah, pray. And I do.

Ah, the joys of travel, I can hardly wait.

I’m coming Mom, I’m coming. Your welcoming hug and kiss makes it all worthwhile. I love you.

Somebody Really Does Win Those Stupid Contests

2007-07-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

The phone rang a little while ago and when I picked it up, a man’s voice said “Are you watching 1 to 100?” I said “Huh?” (It was one of my more eloquent moments.) He repeated, “Are you watching 1 to 100?” I said that no I wasn’t, but my roommate in the other room was watching it. I yelled for OMAS and she picked up the phone. I hung up.

I walked into the other room to see what was going on and, sure enough, on her TV was the game show 1 to 100. While watching the show the producers had apparently told the viewers to go online and sign up and at the end of the show somebody would win a prize. So, she did.

They called her.

She won.

$5000 dollars.

I am in a state of shock. A few years ago she also won a prize from the Reader’s Digest sweepstakes. This is a woman who enters things constantly. She enters anything. She enters everything. She buys lottery tickets faithfully twice a week. (at least I’m smart enough to make the lottery purchase a mutual thing) And she wins. Not a lot, not all the time, but occasionally.

$5000 dollars.

I’ll be damned.

I think I’ll give her a little extra cash when she goes to buy the lottery tickets tomorrow. Maybe she's on a roll.

It's Amazing What You Find When You Do Spring Cleaning

2007-07-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

My Dad was a writer. Not a spectacularly good, published author kind of writer, but a guy who wanted to share information about his family with the generations to come after him.

He had a lot to share and innumerable stories to tell. He, personally, came from a family of 13 children and that tendency to have HUGE families runs back through the history of our family line, all the way back to Scotland and England, where we originated. As a consequence, our family tree is truly enormous, with more branches than you can imagine and more relatives than I could ever count.

When my Dad passed away last year, he left me, among many other things a sheaf of papers that I just recently sat down and really started to read. This rubber banded 2 inch thick pile of paper came to my attention as I was doing all the cleaning that has been going on around here lately, hand in hand with all the painting. I had glanced at the paperwork previously, but hadn’t really taken the time to absorb what it had to say and to understand just what all was there.

He had started a book telling his memories of his immediate family. He talked about all of his brothers and sisters, his parents, his grandparents and his great grandparents. He explained relationships and who was whose first cousin and second cousin and great aunt twice removed. He told about the people he was close to. His Uncle Vinson, his Grandfather John, his Grandmother Sarah, his Dad George and on and on. He told stories about life and death and birth and marriage and what it was like to grow up in the hollows and hills and along the rivers and streams of Kentucky during the Great Depression.

As I read his words, I could see that young boy having his first taste of moonshine, and the young man experiencing the pangs of first love. He made it clear how close he was to his grandfather and how much he loved him and what a blow it was to him when old John died.

As I read all this, my modern mind kept having flashes of “Little House On The Prairie” and “The Waltons” and “Old Yeller” and “The Dollmaker”. I knew this was my history, but I guess I never really sat down and gave it serious thought.

Now I am.

I’m thinking very seriously of trying to make sense of all these papers. Of turning them into articles, or short stories or even a book. I’m not sure I write well enough to write a book, but I think I’d like to try. I may very well, do “blog stories” and, if and when I gather enough of them, maybe I'll combine them and I’ll think about a book. All I know is I don’t want to let these memories lay in the back of the closet and die. I want them to be alive and real not only for my generation, but for our children and our grandchildren. I want them to know what kind of people they come from and who they really are.

Amongst the paperwork I received was a complete genealogy of the family tracing my Dad’s people, through his Mother, back to the 1600’s in Virginia. They were some of those pioneers who came here for religious freedom in the very early days of our country. The left Scotland during the heighth of the clan wars, and during the ongoing hated English rule, and came to the "New World" to find peace and freedom. They weren’t at Plymouth Rock, but they arrived a little farther down the coast line, in Virginia, around the same time. They were a major force in the founding of this country we have today. These early pioneers interacted with and, in some cases, married into historical families and fought alongside people who later became famous in the founding of our country. I want to write about that and talk about that and explore that subject in great depth. I hope I won’t bore you.

I’m also planning to have a genealogy done, tracking the family back through my Dad’s Father as well. I want to see how the two families come together and where in history they link and where they spread out and make yet another branch of this huge family tree.

I have my work cut out for me. It will take a long time. However, I think it will be interesting, if not for all of you, at least for my family. They will start to know where they came from and this is a good thing.

Stay tuned.

It's Hard To Be Both Senile + Extremely Tired

2007-07-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

I had a massage this afternoon. It was a much needed break in an overwhelming week of work and sweat. When the session was over, the masseuse left the room and I got dressed quickly. When I opened the door, she came back in and we chatted as I wrote her check. Then I headed out for yet another stop at Home Depot before heading home. As I walked across the parking lot, I noticed that my shorts felt “funny”. The legs just didn’t feel right. I looked down to see if I could see a problem. There was nothing immediately visible. I tugged on the waistband in an effort to straighten them out and make them more comfortable. As I stretched out the waist, I noticed the tag. In the front. By my belly button. I had my shorts on backwards.

I returned home to find that the painting is done. The guys spent today doing the last touch-ups and painting the gate and dog door. I bought “Colonial Red” for the gate and door and I think it was an excellent choice. It looks great. At least I think so. I think it looks especially nice contrasted with the freshly painted snow white fence. What do you think? (The paint on the gate is glossy so there is a glare. I couldn’t seem to get rid of it – sorry)
I also, unfortunately, had to have them repaint one of the kitchen walls due to the non matching yellow paint I discussed in an earlier post. Mostly, nobody but me will ever notice, but on that one wall, the different colors of yellow were glaring. Half one shade of yellow and half another. The boys didn’t mind and they went over it with all the same shade in just a few minutes. Here’s the final product. I think it looks pretty good. Do you? In the one picture you can see the beige wallpaper I mentioned in my earlier post. It will be coming down and a new paper with yellow highlights will be going up in a couple of weeks. We need to get everything put away and get back to normal around here before we start another project.

I also took some pictures of the beige paint that is in the bedroom and bath. However, I decided that beige paint is about as exciting to look at as a bowl of oatmeal so why bother? Trust me. It looks good.

And so now on to the massive job of putting the house back in order. We’re well underway, however, since this is what the area in front of the fireplace in the family room looks like, I think it will be a while before order is totally restored.

By the way, the girls have made up. I was sure you’d want to know. Note healing scar on Meggie's right cheek. She's the one on the right in the picture.

You're Never Too Old To Learn

2007-07-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

This painting/remodeling/fix-up/clean-up project on my home has been very educational. Here are some of the things that I’ve learned.

1. When rooms flow smoothly, one right into the other, the paint on the ceilings of those rooms must be the same color. Otherwise, it is not pretty. We have a wall of wallpaper between the kitchen area and the living room and hall area. Therefore, since the wallpaper is a natural divider, these two areas could each have different color walls, as long as both areas coordinate with the wallpaper. However, the ceiling must be the same color throughout. My kitchen has a yellow ceiling. My living room and hallway do not. Picture it.

2. When cabinets, that are attached to the wall, are taped along the edges in order to prevent paint from getting on them, it is a good idea if the cabinets are made of REAL wood. If they are not, when the tape is peeled off, the fake wood veneer may also come off right along with the tape.

3. Always make sure the painters are actually using the wood putty that you purchased to fill ALL the holes and flaws in the wall BEFORE they paint. If they do not, you have beautifully painted holes.

4. When you purchase paint for a project, bear in mind that you probably need twice as much as you think you need.

5. Paint the walls BEFORE you buy the new carpet. It prevents your having a heart attack over every potential drip.

6. Buy a large roll of paper for the painters to spread at the base of a wall for carpet protection. Newspapers work okay, but if you have light colored carpets, the newsprint gets the carpet filthy. The long rolls of paper are cheap enough and why add carpet shampooing to your load of work?

7. Buy more plastic tarp covers than you think you need. At the end of the project you can always return the unopened/unused ones or they are very handy to cover the grill and lawn furniture during the winter.

8. Do NOT try to paint the house, do Spring Cleaning in the house, clean out the garage and redo the back yard all at the same time. Take small bites. Those big chunks will choke you to death. Hack! Hack! Hack!

9. When you buy good quality paint from a reputable store they usually mix the exact color you want on the spot. Bear in mind that despite the fact that they are supposed to use the EXACT SAME COMPUTERIZED FORMULA every time, different paint batches, bought on different days, may very well be a different shade. Corn Silk Yellow mixed on Monday may not be the EXACT same shade as Corn Silk Yellow mixed on Wednesday. Even though the computer is doing the mixing, and, theoretically, they are EXACTLY the same, they are not. I can prove this without a doubt. My yellow walls, yellow doors and yellow ceiling are various shades of yellow based on what day the paint was mixed and purchased. If possible, buy and mix all the paint on the same day. Remember, buy more paint than you think you need. It will be handy for touch ups later. I thought 2 gallons for 2 rooms was enough. Ha! Those two rooms ending up using about 4 ½ gallons of paint. Live and learn.

10. Rough textured, “popcorn” style ceilings suck up paint like a sponge. Buy paint quantities accordingly. They are also much more effectively painted with a sprayer rather than a roller.

11. Do NOT pay $65 a day for the rental of a paint sprayer. I bought one for $150 and it has a $50 rebate. Therefore the total cost was $100 and it did an excellent job. Plus, I have a paint sprayer of my very own for future projects.

12. If you are working with amateur painters, set a daily time table and stick to it. Professionals will work a regular time schedule, but my amateur painters just keep going and going and going, sort of like the energizer bunny. Finally, I run them off so we can go to bed. They are young, energetic and extremely hard working, but I need some down time in the evenings. I told them I wanted them to work from 9-5, but they come at 9 AM and leave at 5 PM? 6 PM? 7 PM? 8PM? 9 PM? Etc. etc. etc. I once ran them off at midnight because they just “wanted to finish this one more thing”. Be firm. You need your rest.

I’m sure there’s more to be learned from this very educational and enlightening project, however, the painters are due soon and I must get dressed and begin another day. I’ve been up since 5:30 AM when the sun came pouring into the bedroom and into my eyes. Today, the curtains go back up. Yeah!!!

Who's That In My Bathroom?

2007-07-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

The painting continues. It’s been a week today that my house has been in utter turmoil. I’m getting used to having my bedroom dresser drawers in the floor of the family room and having no blinds or drapes on the windows. It seems normal to brush my teeth in the kitchen sink and to sleep in a bedroom that has nothing but a bed in it. The house is literally torn apart.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good because, oh my goodness, the dirt and dust and dog hair that have been uncovered is mind boggling. I actually was silly enough to think I had a fairly clean house. However, since in the normal course of cleaning and vacuuming, I don’t lift fully loaded dressers or wardrobes or move king size beds, a lot of places never see the light of day. This week they have been exposed to the light and it is not a pretty sight.

When the bed was picked up and hauled to the front of the house, words cannot describe the amount of dust and dirt that was piled up under there. Let’s just say that if I wanted to take up gardening, I would not have to haul in fill dirt. We had storage boxes under the bed and the underside of the bed was literally inaccessible for cleaning until the bed was picked up and moved out. Ditto with the wardrobes and dressers. Since we use a swamp cooler (water cooler) rather than air conditioning, all our windows and doors are constantly open to the air. As a result, the desert winds are apparently bringing us of lots of sand and dirt along with all the breezes. You don’t realize just how much that is true until you start doing this kind of cleaning.

Last night, with the window wide open, the cool desert night air blowing in, the ceiling fan overhead and all the dirt and dust gone, I had the best nights sleep that I’ve had in a long time. With all this cleaning, it’s no wonder my allergies feel so much better. The bedroom carpet is getting shampooed and cleaned today before we put all the furniture back in and that room will be cleaner than it’s been in the 15 years we’ve lived here. It was clean when we put all the furniture in there in the first place, but once all that very heavy furniture was loaded up and in place, there’s been VERY little rearranging done. The bed was switched out about 10 years ago when we got rid of our waterbed and moved to a very supportive and comfortable pillow top mattress. However, since then, not much furniture moving has occurred. Hence, lots of dirt has been in hiding under and behind things.

Today, the guys are working on the bathrooms and with every room that goes by, they get better and faster. By the time they’re done with the house, they will be old pros at painting.

If you recall the paint mix-up and my now yellow kitchen, you might be interested to know that now I find I have a wallpaper project to do along with all this painting. I have one wall in the kitchen that has wallpaper on it and I left that wall alone with no new paint. It is what I believe they call the “accent wall”. It has a nice beige/tan abstract design wallpaper on it and it went well with the old beige walls. I expected it to go well with the new beige walls, however, since the new walls are not beige it is a problem. It does not go well with the new yellow walls. Today, when I went to Home Depot to buy the 500th gallon of paint, I checked out the wall paper and immediately saw exactly what I wanted. That’s unusual, for I usually have to look at every store in town and compare and think and mull over what I want. But this time, I looked at the wall coverings on display and this one abstract “marble look” with a hint of yellow in it just jumped out at me. I immediately bought a good supply and when the painting is done, everything is back in place and life calms down, Isaac is going to come over and wallpaper that one wall for me. I think it will look good. I certainly hope it does.

The painters are calling my name as I have to go make a decision about something. This is my life lately. Busy, crazy, frantic, exhausting. But just think how great the house will look when we are finally done!!