GREETINGS

I wish a happy and prosperous new year to all my worldwide friends. Peace to all of you.

Also I send a special greeting to our grandson on an island in the South Pacific which has no electricity. Maybe with the use the solar lanterns he will be able to receive this message. We enjoyed our special time with him at Christmas.

CHRISTMAS EVE DAY

Today I checked a “for sale ad” column in my local newspaper to take stock of what I learned earlier this year. Under the heading of “Sporting Goods and Services”, I counted 45 out of 69 ads listing guns for sale by individuals as well as gun shops.

I also read in todays’ paper of the various murders and shootings which took place yesterday and the days before, including the “shooting in the head” death of one more policeman.

Every time I read of such terrible things committed by someone still in their teens, I wonder if this is how they managed to get their hands on a gun simply by buying it from want ads in my local newspaper.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

There is one repentant Republican that I know of. Do you remember Lee Atwater? Maybe you don’t. Well to remind you, he’s the god-father of dirty politics. Everything dirty in George W. Bush’s campaign for president can be laid at his feet. Karl Rove was his protégé and continues his heritage today.

Living in Columbia, South Carolina, we were witnesses to the start of his tactics. Lee was raised in South Carolina, went to school there and is buried in Columbia. John McCain was a candidate in that presidential election and there was so many dirty rumors about McCain all laid at the feet of the blues musician, Atwater. I kept hoping someone with ethics would stop it, but it continued and was relished by Bush. He couldn’t run on his record as a drinker and druggie, so lies were created to make him look good by comparison. Finding God really helped there, too.

Here is something you probably weren’t aware of or maybe forgot. Lee Atwater died at the age of forty. After being diagnosed with a brain tumor, before he died he publicly renounced what he had been doing.  A Roman Catholic convert, he apparently developed a conscience, unfortunately the man known as the “Boogie Man” had opened a Pandora’s Box and all that nasty stuff continues today.

PS: This was all ready for posting when I happened to see an interview with Newt Gingrich this morning where he complained about all the negative advertisements about himself.  What ye sow so shall ye reap.

A GOOD LAUGH

On day one, I drank from a gallon container a liquid of something or other ordered by my doctor, a full eight ounce glass of it every ten to fifteen minutes. It was difficult after the first few. Starting at noon until I finished about three o’clock after throwing up twice, I felt as though the worst was over. It wasn’t, but we won’t discuss those things.

On day two, we arrived at the doctor’s surgery center for the two procedures, upper and lower GI’s. I was prepared by the nurse and given an EKG, which made me very happy because I hadn’t had one in many years. Although I had only seen the doctor the previous week to discuss my swallowing difficulty and expecting to have my esophagus stretched, he suggested I also have a colonoscopy. After checking with my primary care, I reluctantly agreed.

I was glad when I was finally sedated hoping the worst would soon be over. I woke up with tremendous stomach pains, a very sore throat and as well as a sore upper lip. The nurse informed me that a polyp was removed and that I had diverticulitus. The stomach pain was only gas, but I would soon get rid of that. The sore throat would last only a day or so.

When washing my hands at home, I looked in the mirror and saw how horrible I looked. Very pale and not exactly looking like myself, I thought how something like this could really age a person. I kept feeling uncomfortable about my upper lip and I looked in the mirror again to see myself and burst out laughing. No wonder I didn’t look like myself, my upper lip was humongous.

By the third day, my gas was gone, my sore throat was gone and I could eat almost normally, but laughed when I saw my upper lip was still swollen.

Today day four, I’m going to a party. All is well.

HOW ENGLISH AND AMERICAN POLITICS CAME TOGETHER

Start with Tony Blair PM 1997-2007

It recently came out that although Rupert Murdoch had never backed a candidate in Tony Blair’s Labour Party; Tony managed to get his backing in the election for Prime Minister of Great Britain. What a coup for Tony. As a result, Rupert was always welcome at the open back door of 10 Downing Street.

Add George Bush Pres. 2001-2009

George Bush ran for president with the biggest war chest of any other candidate in the United States. He was also the least qualified, but the Republican Party at that time was determined to take control of politics in the US. With the backing of the Right Wing, the ones with all the big money and the help of Lee Atwater’s lies, he became the puppet of the self- chosen, self- serving Vice President Dick Cheney.

Together Cheney, Bush and their cronies started a war from which they and all their friends profited. I never felt that those people were ever sorry for all the deaths that resulted and in the destruction of Iraq. Even the American soldiers killed over there were snuck into the United States in the dead of night at Dover, Delaware.

You probably noticed how Tony Blair became such good friends with Bush, although his own countrymen were against Britain’s entering into the war, Blair backed the invasion and sent British troops.

In the United States with the backing of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, we became a country of flag wavers, wearers of flag pins, but the only soldiers fighting and dying in the war were not members of Congress or their families. Our young people were sold a bill of goods about how great it is to die for your country.

Talk to the families who saw those pictures of deceased eighteen year-old Marines proudly wearing their graduation uniforms in the papers every day and imagined their sons and grandsons would be pictured there sometime soon.

We are one of those families who dreaded that news every day for a year. Our grandson came home safely, thousands of others were not so lucky.

Best friends forever, Tony Blair, George Bush and Rupert Murdoch.

Kids

Sometimes you wondered why your kids did such stupid things. It never made any sense to you, but in spite of it all you lived through it and life went on. Eventually everything turned out for the best. That is also our family motto “Everything Always Works Out for the Best”. We all have it hanging in our homes.

So when everyone gets the news that our son’s nearly 16 year old son shaved his head, you’ll all ask “why”? No one knows the answer and maybe our grandson doesn’t know either, but the fact is he should have hair by Christmas, so we won’t sweat the small stuff.

WHAT I THINK I KNOW

Correct me if you think I’m wrong, but didn’t I hear somewhere that Herman Cain started his campaign for President of the United States in order to get his name “out there” because he had written a book and hoped the press would fall all over him because he’s black and would be the anti-Obama for the Republican Party. He has virtually no staff but a lot of book signings and speaking engagements and he sure can smile. Was his “deer in the headlights” moment on Libya akin to George Bush’s reaction to 9/11? Excuse me, but am I wrong to think he has also shown himself to be a total idiot?

Another thing, didn’t Newt Gingrich start his campaign in order to receive campaign contributions in order to pay off his enormous debts, especially those incurred at a jewelry store? The staffers he hired quit in dismay. Newt knew that with his baggage he couldn’t possibly be elected president, but the money he’d receive while running would be enormous. It doesn’t matter now that every other day he contradicts himself.  His backers love the way he can articulate with big words and sentences that they can’t possibly comprehend, but he sure can sound knowledgeable.

His new book, just out, explains how he’s found God (remember?) and how sorry he is for all his past indiscretions. But as a result of those realizations, he understands his own flaws and is now a far better person, better husband and could honestly be a better President (really?). All this he attributes to his newfound Catholicism.

Now, what does our country have in these two leading candidates for president? Two enormous egos who are tremendously flawed, but if one of them is going to be the real presidential candidate, I know that all Republicans will vote whole heartily for them, ignoring all their gaffs and not caring that we would be the laughing stock of the world.

Wasn’t George Bush bad enough?

GIVING THANKS

I know that our Thanksgiving Day traditions are not celebrated by all the readers of my blog so I want to give a special “Thank You” to those people from Russia, Germany, Spain, Italy, Latvia and India who have visited with me for a while. I want you to know I appreciate knowing you are out there. Sincerely, MJ

ALL FOR NOTHING?

Yesterday new laminate floors were installed in our two bedrooms. We were to be responsible for moving the computer, plants, lamps and other things that could break when the work was being done. We would also have to clean out the bottom of our closets because the wood would extend into them. The workers would handle the heavy moving.

In order to accomplish all this, we first cleaned out under the beds all that junk that we’ve accumulated in the past eight years since moving here, as well as the clothes we’ve been meaning to get rid of. As a result, we delivered a trunk load of things to the local thrift store and other large things were picked up by a  group home for the handicapped.

Due to all our efforts the house is as clean as it’s ever been. We moved so many things out of the way for the installers to move the large pieces out of the bedrooms, the house then became a total mess until the work was finished.

After all our preparations, all they did was move the furniture to one side of the bedrooms until one side was finished and then moved it back to the other side. And here we were with the furnishings in the living room, dining room and family room all pushed aside and covered with all the rest of our junk, bedding and linens.

Was it all worth the bother? You bet it was.

INVITATION TO THE BALLET

It was the usual dark and dreary day in mid-winter. The sun wasn’t shining so it was necessary to have the lights on in our home. Everyone at that time of year stays at home, if at all possible.

On one such day, I got a call from a friend saying her husband had received four tickets to the ballet from his boss and did we want to go. Neither she nor I had ever seen a live ballet, so we thought it would be fun.

It was extremely cold and the roads were slushy. The four of us were dressed in appropriate gear for winter weather. We wore heavy coats, scarves and hats, gloves and boots because we would have to walk from the parking lot to the nearby symphony hall.

After presenting our tickets, we were shown to our seats which were in fact box seats. If Queen Elizabeth had been in attendance, she would have been seated in our box which was virtually on top of the stage. Everyone could see the four of us bundled up in apparel suitable for a football game, so we tried to ignore the other people in the audience and were relieved when the lights were finally turned down.

Our first ballet was the story of “Romeo and Juliet” which was easy to follow and the music was familiar. Once you got over the idea that no one was going to speak, you could concentrate on the dance, itself. However, seated virtually on stage, you hear what most people don’t, the thudding sound of the dancers’ feet bouncing on the wood floor. Usually the audience is not that close and the symphony orchestra drowns out the loud thumps. I remembered all this when I saw a ballet on television last week and the cameras were close enough that you could actually hear the noise made when their dance shoes hit the floor.

The four of us really did enjoy the ballet and thought it was beautiful but we hoped no one in attendance recognized us. It’s obvious that if we had known where we were to be seated, we would have “dressed up” as they say in Pennsylvania.

 THIS IS ONE TIME I DID HAVE A FAVORITE

There was a notice in the mail from the school nurse regarding my youngest daughter, who was in Kindergarten, informing me she had a heart murmur, probably congenital. What? I immediately started shaking. Was this my fault? Did I not notice a problem? She was perfect until now. How had I missed it? What was it that I missed? I’m responsible! How can I live with myself after this?

When I pulled myself together, I called the doctor’s office and was told to bring her in. I called my husband and asked him to come home, but he was about to give a speech and couldn’t come immediately.

When she got off the bus that day, I drove straight to the doctor’s office. He checked her out, and there was nothing the matter with her. NOTHING!

The doctor was furious. It turned out he was the doctor assigned to our elementary school and responsible for yearly examinations. The school nurse had no authority to send out any kind of notice.

I can’t remember if I discussed the situation with my baby as to why we went to see the doctor that day.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE?

There’s been a lot of discussion about Time Magazine’s cover story about favorite children within a family. My husband says we didn’t have one out of our five children. I said that my answer to the question was always “whoever’s the baby or whoever is sick”.

However, now that the children are grown there’s no longer a “baby”. Ours is now in her mid-forties so she no longer qualifies for that role, although I’ve told her she would always be my baby. The answer is “whoever needs us the most right now”.

We’re always willing to help, especially with lots of advice which probably won’t be listened to, but it’s nice to be asked anyway.

ANOTHER FUNERAL

Another of my bridge playing friends died last week at the age of 94. I called a friend to see if she would like to go with me to the memorial service that evening. She told me she would like to, but there may be a problem, but she would contact me later in the afternoon and let me know if she could come. Her daughter was having cataract surgery that morning and she had to drive her to and from the surgical center.

I was totally surprised because my friend is 91 years old and she’s transporting her daughter around. I guess we elderly people do have our purposes.

THE SOLOIST

Years back when I belonged to the church choir, we had an Italian tenor with  tremendous vibrato.  Unfortunately he didn’t really fit in because singing in a choir requires you to blend with other voices. At one point when our director gave a solo at Christmas to a soprano, the tenor’s wife, who also sang with us, asked why her talented husband was not given that particular solo. Everyone was aghast at her outrage, because he really wasn’t a very good soloist and we all understood the director’s position. His wife was absolutely furious, but the director didn’t give in.

Knowing what I’ve told you, you might enjoy a story about this man which I heard a year later.

The tenor and his wife toured Italy and at every church they attended, he would sing the “Ave Maria” until his fellow travelers told him to stop. Upon hearing this story, I thought that he must have been attending Mass and singing it at the end of the Mass, which could only have been as few times in the week or two they visited the country.

I discovered how wrong I was when we toured Italy ourselves. In our ten day tour of Italy, every day we were in a different location and touring at least one church a day and sometimes two or three. It then dawned on me what the tenor had been doing.

Picture this, every church you would enter with other touring groups would be given a history of the edifice when suddenly a man in the crowd would start singing the “Ave Maria” in an extremely loud voice. Obviously he had been doing this in every church and everyone in his group or in the other groups finally became furious and demanded he stop.

I really think he told this story himself thinking it was funny, because I don’t know of anyone else who was on that tour. Talk about “The Ugly American”

THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY

In the past year of writing this blog, I’ve learned so many things that I didn’t know when working on the computer. The latest was finding about my stats. I never went so far as to get information on where my viewers were from. I assumed they were basically my family and a few friends who might have looked at it once in a while.

However, when I delved further I was astounded to see that I have readers in Russia, Germany, Great Britain and China. I know about the China person and the one who was possibly in Great Britain on business recently. My son tells me he thinks the others were looking up MJ for Michael Jackson and stumbled onto me.

So I want to thank those Michael Jacksons fans for staying with me a bit. I hope they understand my background and humor. I do sing, used to dance and still act a bit when doing play reading and I also have a skin decease known as psoriasis, which is the principle reason I always wear long sleeves although the other reason is to hide the wrinkly skin on my arms.

I’m pleased to have all of you with me. MJ  (aka Mary Jane)

WAY BACK WHEN

I recently watched an old movie circa 1950’s and saw a woman wearing a suit with several fox furs arranged on her shoulders with the animals’ heads and tails still intact and hanging from their dried dead bodies and I had to laugh at how we women were such idiots. That was the current fashion and most women aspired to achieve that look.

As I watched the black and white movie, I realized that a young person today watching the same thing would probably be horrified to see those dead creatures worn today. Such furs were in style, I have no idea why, and yet I wanted to wear them too, ugly as they were.  Fur coats and fur pieces were part of our culture then. The ultimate symbol of success then was a mink or sable coat, usually worn by glamorous actress’s or wives of wealthy men.

At our tenth high school reunion held in July of 1958, one of my class mates came wearing a mink stole. I think she expected her fellow grads to be jealous. We weren’t, after all it was extremely hot and the rest of us were in fashionable summer clothing.

There were some young women from wealth and society who deigned such trappings. I remember reading of one who received a mink stole for Christmas from her parents. Not being a fashionable person, this young married woman put an ad in the newspaper offering to trade her mink for a new saddle. Another daughter of wealth not interested in furs or designer clothing traded or sold her expensive clothes to fellow college students, who were totally excited to share in the booty. The clothing which was not suitable to wear in a classroom environment had been gifted to her by her mother, Nancy Reagan. (I was told this many years ago by one of her college classmates)

WHAT’S UP WITH THE WEATHER?

Last night I dreamed I was taking a walk in the fall weather up north and feeling so elated. I then woke up to our usual 90 or more degrees of temperature here in Florida.

Today was my husband’s golf day and after eating lunch, he sat in a chair on our screened-in porch and took a nap. It was still in the nineties. I stayed indoors, as usual.

Every day has been the same for the past two or three months, 90 or more degrees of hot weather every day. Nothing seems to change and yet when I went into JC Penney’s last week they were putting out Christmas decorations.

Next January or February I expect will be the start of another cold winter. The last two years we’ve had the coldest weather we can remember since moving here almost thirty years ago. We’ll both be bundled up in sweaters and covered in blankets hoping warm weather will soon be here. So the cycle will continue.

With record snows, floods and hurricanes in all sections of the country, you wonder could global warming be here. Nah, there’s no such thing.

(The above was written on last Thursday.  Saturday morning’s weather report says it now ten degrees cooler. I can now go outdoors, but for how many days?)

GOOD OMENS

One day last month my horoscope said that two years from now I would have great success with monetary rewards.

Since my birthday is on the cusp, I read both Aquarius and Capricorn and choose the best prognosis of each on any given day. I guess I was born lucky. On that particular day I mentioned, both of these signs were virtually the same. So that’s doubly great things for me.

The best news is, it means I’ll possibly still be alive to reap those benefits and can share all of them with you. So everyone,  try to take good care of me, It’s to your benefit.

LOOKING BACKWARDS

When my youngest child was in high school in South Carolina, we had a daily ritual for when she came home in the afternoon. We watched Jim and Tammy Fay Bakker on their PTL television show. (Praise the Lord)

We both had been raised in the north and never had access to southern gospel preachers. We were enthralled by them from the first and hoped to hear some of that good ole fashioned prayer meeting stuff. But it never happened. Tammy Fay sang and talked. She then gushed over guests and had her own cooking segment. That part was really a hoot.

Jim for the most part spent all his time selling units in their about to be constructed Holy Housing Development, Tammy was, of course, doing the decorating. She had impeccable taste. I don’t remember the real name for it since it was so long ago. A great deal of time was also spent asking for donations and sending out Praise the Lord souvenirs as their special thanks for all the money coming in. Tammy sold her music tapes and reaped a lot of money for herself. But never once did I hear any sermon coming from Jim. It was always “thank you lord” and “praise god”, maybe a snippet of a bible verse but never anything else except a plea for money.

We spent a great deal of time trying to understand how people could be so foolish as to believe in whatever those two were doing. And I must say, we also laughed at Tammy’s makeup and her recipes.

‘Course Jim got in trouble and went to jail, their development went bankrupt and Tammy Fay, the poor soul, got cancer and died.

I really should explain that when we moved to Columbia, they had just started to install cable television, so there weren’t many other shows available to watch during the day except for soap operas. We tried to understand why people loved Jim and Tammy so much. I guess they were thought of as friends and good people, but it turned out to be all about the money.

Imagine that.

PLACES YOU MIGHT FIND ME IF I’M MISSING

Many years ago we spent some time in San Francisco. When I returned home, I told friends and family if I was ever missing that’s where I would be found. Not permanently, but for a short time. I loved visiting the Wharf, Ghirardelli Square and hanging on a cable car. The whole area was filled with happy people, mostly tourists who were enjoying each other’s company.

Another place I really wanted to run to was Vermont. After spending a month there, I thought if the family had known about Vermont earlier, that’s where we all would be living now.

Amsterdam is next. I felt the same excitement there as I did in San Francisco, but could probably stand it for only a month or so. People were traveling everywhere on their bikes and they seemed filled with joy. Or could it be the marijuana?

The Lake Como area in Italy was absolutely beautiful; the views were spectacular with the Alps just across the water. The people were very friendly and George Clooney could possibly have been a neighbor. I loved the cool weather and feeling like I was in another world, which you are when visiting there.

I never wanted to leave South Carolina and had hoped to live there again. But that was 25 or more years ago and when we drove through Columbia several years ago everything had changed, roads were congested and it was difficult to even find the way to our old home. Having lived there only three years, I wonder if anyone would even remember me.

To be practical though, the best place for me would probably be good old Pennsylvania, especially Ligonier and the town of Latrobe where I was born. I’d feel at home there and these towns have stayed the same as I remember from when I was young. Driving on any street, you’d still know where you were.

But the fact is you really can’t go home again. Any place we all are now is really home.

SEPTEMBER 11^TH

This is a reminder to hang out your flag on September the 11^th in remembrance of all those who died on that tragic day ten years ago and those heroes who helped in the aftermath.

This is also to remind you of those who used this terrible event as an opportunity to go to war in Iraq based on a lie. These are the same people who will be hanging out flags and wearing flag pins, but who didn’t volunteer to fight in that unjust war which has resulted in the deaths of so many of our young people. This escalated war still continues and daily there are more deaths of our service personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention all those innocent civilians.

Many memorials will be held to honor those who were killed or died as a result of that attack on our country. These are the ones who should be honored and never forgotten, especially the ones on the plane which was on a path to crash in Washington D. C. The passengers overcame the hijackers and crashed the plane in Pennsylvania knowing they would also die as a result. Their actions were truly courageous.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU RUN FOR POLITICAL OFFICE?

You find God

George W. Bush was elected to the presidency of the United States. That in itself is questionable. (see the Florida recount) Still some naive voters felt that a man you’d like to drink beer with would make a great president and a powerful world leader. It didn’t matter that he drank too much, took drugs and lied to go to war. He had found God!

Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann both know God personally because they’re married women and mothers, to boot. (I won’t mention the former witch candidate who found God, but you can read about it in her book if you like, the text is easy and doesn’t contain any hard words, not that I’ve read it nor has anyone else for that matter.

There are several Mormons available also, but they don’t speak of being saved so their views might be questionable.

Of course there is a black Republican running for President who I’m sure has found God, but I’ve not paid much attention to his views either, but not because of his skin color.

Two thrice-married candidates have at last found true love. That must mean they found God too, because after all “God is Love”.

There’s now a new character that speaks in “gun metaphors” and has become the nearest thing to a true god to the self-righteous Tea Party members.

What it all boils down to is, if you are a Republican candidate for public office you must believe in God, you must be against gun control and condemn anyone else who doesn’t share your views, you must never help the poor, and above all promise never, never to raise taxes on the wealthy.

I cringe when I hear someone say “I’m a Christian” or “I’ve been saved”. Does that make them special? How so?  Is this what being an American has come to mean?

PS: After seeing an interview with D. Cheney last week, it’s obvious he thinks he is God.

ANNIVERSARY

Sure we just celebrated our sixty years of marriage on August 25^th, but that’s not the anniversary that I’m speaking of.

September 4, 2010 was the date I published my first blog and as of today I’ve averaged 200 page views per month.

I thank Chuck for the gift and  thank you all for reading it.

A HISTORY LESSON

The cover story in the current edition of Smithsonian Magazine is on the efforts to save the crumbling Taj Mahal. It was constructed 350 years ago as a final resting place for the Indian Emperor’s favorite wife. The Emperor was totally devastated by her death at the age of 38 after giving birth to their 14^th child. Notice I said favorite wife, apparently there were others too. With multiple wives, how many children did he have? Did he show love for any of his other wives and his many, many children?

I guess you could call it a beautiful love story, at least from his point of view because he spent 15 years constructing her tomb.

I can’t help wondering how the poor woman felt about his romantic obsession with her during her lifetime. Is there a possibility that at one point she might like to have said “not tonight honey, I have a headache”? ‘Course if she had said that she might no longer have had a head.

FROM HEAD TO TOE

As you age, bothersome things start to happen to you.

Let’s start with your hair. It will probably become gray then turn to white. Of course you can color it, but it will still change. Sometimes it also becomes thin. You’ll notice some women actually have bald spots the same as men.

You'll possibly have cataracts and need eye surgery. That's the easy part. The difficulty comes afterwards when you need to follow an elaborate schedule to use three different eye drops at various times from morning 'til bedtime.

When you visit the dentist, you can be diagnosed as having periodontal disease. This means after the very costly first visit, subsequent visits cost up to $200. Now I have to find someone who will just clean my teeth.

Hearing problems are rampart and some people refuse to believe they have one. So learn to speak loudly and distinctly.

The older you get, the more your mind changes. You’ll begin to notice that little problem  of forgetting things, people’s names or names of your grandchildren or what you were about to say. Why did I open the refrigerator? What day is it? The older you get the more frequently this happens. You’re OK if you really strive to come up with the answer.

One thing that’s really upsetting is the day you first see wrinkles when you weren’t looking for them. When did they really appear?  Did then come just last night?

Now to your arms, I can remember my own mother’s arms and hands being all wrinkly and with liver spots or the black and blue marks that come so easily. You’ll probably remember the same things because it hurts so much when you notice your parent growing old.

There are weird moles which suddenly appear on various parts of your body, my dermatologist called them barnacles but never suggested removing them.

Your stomach is going to get bigger!

Be prepared when you get up from bed or a chair in order to use the bathroom, it’s possible you might have an embarrassing leak as you scurry to get there.

What’s more embarrassing than passing gas? As you age it happens more and more and people will ignore it or give a little laugh.

Varicose veins appeared on my legs. When my I raced my three year old grandson to the mailbox, he beat me by a mile. I was totally shocked when I realized my racing days were over.

Now we get to the feet. When my mother needed her toenails clipped by a podiatrist, I wondered why she couldn’t do it herself because it was so costly. Now I understand why.

Everyday will eventually start with a line-up of various pills and you’ll have to remember to take them at the right time.  Don’t worry you won’t die if you forget a few.

Now I’ll cover sleeping habits. They change. No matter how late you go to bed, you’ll find you wake up early and can’t get back to sleep. That’s where naps come in, plural. That happens, don’t feel guilty. It’s just a matter of recharging your batteries.

IMPORTANT WARNINGS!

One thing you must remember when you drop something is to never, never get on the floor on your hands and knees without having something to hold onto when you get up again. This is imperative.

Another no-no is to never, never drop by to visit a friend. Always phone first, chances are the woman will still be in her nightgown.

SPORTS NEWS

Here’s the latest in sports news.

Two criminals were arrested and charged with stealing items from the spring training rental home of three of the Rays star players. Among the items missing was Evan Longoria’s AK-47. Want to know how the burglars managed to get into the house?

The sliding glass door was open to allow their dogs to get out and a window was unlocked to allow burglars in.

Player Longoria had a permit for the gun, I guess for protection. It’s also possible he has a concealed weapons license.

Where is the gun now? I’m sure long gone into criminal hands and the registration number can be traced back to the idol of many young baseball fans when it’s used to kill a mother or a father or a child or a policeman. Then if he’s traded, many of his fans might not care so much. I certainly don’t care now.

Among other things stolen was some marijuana according to the two captured thieves. Naturally the players denied having any, but if some was found it might possibly have belonged to a house guest.

A WILD AND CRAZY GAL

When I was in my early teens, I used guns.  My three brothers were deer hunters in Western Pennsylvania and twenty-two rifles were always in our home. I was taught to load, aim, fire and clean the gun and I knew all about the safety button. I also knew how to break it apart to carry it safely in town.

With a rifle in my hand along with 22 longs, the ammunition needed, I hiked into the Chestnut Ridge and practiced shooting across a reservoir on the way to a place called the “High Rocks” which every kid in our little town knew from years of roaming there. Our families always knew we played there from an early age. We were allowed to roam at will as long as we returned in time for dinner. No one ever got lost on the winding trails up the ridge that featured large rocks, mountain streams and fallen trees with spectacular views from the high rocky hills. You always knew where you were if you took side trails by following the mountain stream that fed into two reservoirs. Usually we would run into a few friends coming and going on the trails.

One day as I was shooting across the water at trees I used as my target, a man called to me asking “didn't I know that the bullets could ricochet and hit something else, possibly him?” I was surrounded by forest and had thought there was no one else around and the idea really frightened me.

What he said stuck in my mind. I stopped using the gun soon after. I  had realized that guns do kill people.

SPORTS EQUIPMENT

 Something caught my eye recently in the “For Sale” section of our newspaper about a gun for sale complete with ammo. I then saw there were many ads in the same column with other gun offers, including the famous Glock used in spy and mystery novels.

I looked at the heading for the column and saw it was for Sports Equipment, but the majority of items “for sale” were guns. Today I even saw a scare tactic ad saying to get your gun now before a law goes into effect that bans “your ability to even own a gun”.

I wonder if any of the guns advertised in our newspapers are sold to people without background checks made on them. 

I wonder where all those murderers of the policemen get their guns. Maybe they just checked out the sports equipment ads.

A LEARNING EXPERIENCE

People are always telling me how easy it is to do something which I don’t understand so I really have to rely on cheat-sheets. For the past ten months, I’ve posted my blog following such a method and now can almost function on my own.

One thing that has bothered me immensely is the fact that when I reread my past blogs, I discover mistakes in my grammar and spelling or in all the endless words I should have edited out but didn’t know how to change. Chris showed me the simple process and I have taken advantage of that and fixed some recent problems.

I had sharpened up my favorite piece and sent it to the food editor of our newspaper. She really liked it and asked for my blog address. Not being able to publish a first person story in the food section, she forwarded it to the Senior Section of the Times, but I don’t have much hope that they will use it. I hope if you haven’t seen the revised version of “My Obsession with Television Cooking Shows” you will reread it now.

PS: I purposely didn’t go to my first posts to change them because I think those past mistakes, of which there were many, were part of my growing process and clearly show my evolvement into a more capable storyteller.

A SAD CALL

 We received a call telling us our good friend Jan had died suddenly, a real shock to everyone who knew and loved her. She was a vital part of our club as well as one of our bridge players.

At the hospital the doctor told her she had no chance of survival following emergency surgery. She had gone into the hospital on Tuesday and died peacefully Wednesday morning with a friend and a grief counselor holding her hands. The grief counselor, called by the hospital, was actually one of our new bridge players who knew Jan only a short time.

I had called Jan on Monday morning about a meeting she might want to attend. She told me she couldn’t make it but to call her later with all the latest information, which I did. At the end of that conversation, we talked about her recent vacation up North and she said she’d see me next Tuesday for breakfast. She also said she missed seeing me and I told her the same.

I remember thinking that was a nice thing for her to say. I’m so glad for that sweet final memory of her.

SOMETIMES LIFE ISN’T EASY

After spending a great deal of money (almost $900) repairing our car, more lights came on the dashboard and the repair shop said we needed to spend $300 more in additional work. We took the car to the dealer for an appraisal to see if we should buy a new one or pay to have more new parts installed. They told us the work we had paid for hadn’t been done.

Turns out that the dealer’s mechanics were totally wrong which was proved to us by the repair shop owner the next day. He drove with us to the dealer to refute the charges they made against him. This was after I had earlier talked to our lawyer’s office, the police department and the clerk of court’s office. Fortunately for me and everyone else, I got no satisfaction from any of those offices. Before we went to small claims court, we found out we had been misled by the dealer’s mechanics, who didn’t understand the emission system in our car which might have been installed in California.

So what happened? The auto repair shop owner assured us that because of our ordeal that any more parts needed would be at their cost and we wouldn’t have to pay for labor. He understood the pain and anguish we had gone through.

It turns out that we had better response from our local repair garage than we had from the dealer who never sent us an apology for the enormous crisis they caused in our lives. We had even paid them for doing a brake job the same day they checked out the car, which they said we needed.

I did receive to a courtesy call from the auto dealer about our experience but it’s doubtful they’ll respond to my complaint.

INFORMAL POLLS

I’ve taken polls of family, friends and absolute strangers who say Casey is totally guilty. Everyone says she’s guilty but some say the prosecution has not proved their case because there is no physical evidence. I think they totally proved their case. I hope the jury of her peers find that she is guilty of killing her daughter which we all know for a fact that she did.

Verdict just in  NOT GUILTY! The jury couldn’t find fingerprints on anything.

LEAVING HOME

I just finished watching a charming movie starring English actress Pauline Collins about a 40ish wife and mother who goes to Greece and ultimately finds her true self. The title is “Shirley Valentine” and I guess you could rate it “R” because of several situations. But Shirley is such a delightful person, who speaks directly to the audience in much of the movie that you enjoy enormously those aspects which are portrayed with great humor. I found none of it offensive, just surprising.

When Shirley makes plans with a female friend to spend two weeks at a Greek Island resort leaving her husband and grown children at home, I started to remember going away with three of my friends for a golfing weekend.

I was probably 50 years old and it was my first time away for an outing that had nothing to do with visiting my mother, father or children.

My friends and I took advantage of a discounted package at a well-known golf resort about four hours from home.

What did four women do on a trip like that? Of course we played golf for two days, ate out and visited famous historical places. However, the things that stick out in my memory are that the end of the first night there was much drinking, so much so that on the second day of golfing, I played spectacularly. This upset my friends who were better golfers than I but were too hung over to beat me.  I had only one drink the previous evening.

Three of us were smokers, which we did all day long and well into the night. The next morning, I felt I never wanted to smoke another cigarette. When I returned home, that’s when I really decided to quit smoking because we were going to have our first grandchild and I wanted to be around to see that person grow up. It took awhile but I finally succeeded by only smoking cigarettes I bummed from others, which in reality can be totally embarrassing. I’ve always told people that I enjoyed every cigarette I ever smoked, but I’m glad I stopped and think of all the money I’ve saved through twenty nine years.

I think “Shirley Valentine” is a film that will be especially enjoyable for the ladies.

THE FIRST TRIAL

He got away with it. Unbelievable! We all knew he did it, but why did the jury find him not guilty?

The prosecution attorneys had the mistaken idea that because so many black women had been in abusive relationships, they would convict a black man for beating up and killing his wife. The majority of the jury was made up of black women so they would conclude he was guilty of murder. But they found him not guilty in spite of the evidence.

Here’s why! His ex-wife was a blond white woman.

Black men playing on major sports teams make oodles of money. I’ve noticed that even in college the black football and basketball players have the white groupies all around them which carries over when they are paid millions in bonuses for signing on with pro teams. It’s understandable that black women are resentful and I don’t blame them for being so. Take a look at the Kardashians.

My point of view is not racist, just that I truly understand the black woman’s point of view.

At least the murderer finally got jail time, although it was for another crime. Before being found guilty of that crime, he was accused of being abusive to another white woman. 

MOTHER’S  DAY

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day. In the morning my son came with a breakfast for us.  We ate muffins and fresh fruit salad on our porch and talked for several hours about his work and family. I was so glad for this opportunity.  Then in the afternoon Melissa and Chris came for tacos. There was more conversation on the porch, then help with the 550 piece jigsaw puzzle which is still unfinished on the dining room table. Later we had a long phone visit with Lynn, culminating with lunch on Tuesday with Jennifer.

I did get many presents, but the best part of the celebration was having special time with each of my five accomplished children of whom I am so proud.

(I wrote this the Wednesday following Mom’s Day when I was filled with happiness. Then in my doddering old age I forgot to post it on my blog.) 

AN ACCOMPLISHED GENTLEMAN

His background was chemistry and he held patents on processes he developed that were used all over the world. The reason he lived in our town was because a local manufacturing company was using some of his patents. He was hired as president so he could train the employees to use his techniques. He hadn’t really wanted the position, but they made it worth his while and gave him great freedom to travel all over the world on business.

He and his wife had already planned for retirement having bought property on an island in the Caribbean, which would be the home base for their large sailboat. That’s where they spent their vacation time. Before they could move there, I saw in the news that in a local uprising many of the island residents were murdered.  I sincerely hope they found a safer place to retire.

His big love besides his wife and daughter was bowling, which is how we made his acquaintance. We were invited to join a rather elite bowling league consisting of sixteen residents whom he chose. The biggest thing in his life was having his own team come in first. When his team came in second, their trophies were larger than the winners because he had bought and paid for them himself.

Winning was so important that when he was in Africa, he met a young bush pilot. He offered the man a job piloting the company plane as well as a position on his bowling team. He really was a nice young man and everyone like him but he wasn’t a great bowler. We moved shortly after the bowling banquet.

He was a brilliant man with many accomplishments who also had an enormous collection of heavy silver.

DEAD WEIGHT

Yesterday after a luncheon I was in a car with three other women. We stopped to let out the one who is 97 years old. At her front door, she lost her balance, hit into her door and slid to the concrete. The nurse driver ran to help her. The other passenger in the backseat who has severe arthritis said she would go help because it would take two people to help her up. I said I would do it although I thought the nurse knew how to help her.

We each took an arm to help lift her and she was a total dead weight. As I helped, I realized that this was something I wasn’t strong enough to handle. The nurse told her to hang onto our arms which she did and with massive effort we got her to stand up. She didn’t seem shaken and said she was OK. We carried her purse and mail into her home and she really seemed all right.

When I got home I realized she may seem all right but I was really shaken. Trying to lift a dead weight is almost impossible which I had known but never experienced. In the midst of all of this, I thought I’m 80 years old and this is really hurting all through my body. We managed with a valiant effort and I was totally glad because I wasn’t sure that I could continue.

Every day I’m reminded there are some things I really don’t want to deal with.

A DEAD DREAM

At a recent meeting a friend arrived wearing a belt. In the past months she had lost a great deal of weight due to illness. I realized I hadn’t seen anyone wearing a belt in quite awhile.

Last month in clearing out my winter clothing, I found I had two baskets filled with all kinds of belts I had collected through the years. Some of them were expensive and too good to throw away and I always felt that when I lost a few, actually a lot of pounds, I could wear them again.

I now realize my dream is dead and I’m donating the belts to charity.

The Intellectuals

The Jesuit Priests are known as the Intellectuals of the Catholic Church. We had a friend’s son who wanted to become a Jesuit but was told he should become a Secular Priest instead. It was their way of telling him he wasn’t smart enough.

When we lived in South Carolina, our pastor was a Jesuit and he was totally ineffectual as a pastor. On Sunday, he sermonized for thirty to forty minutes every week to the chagrin of the parishioners. After meeting with members who complained about his long sermons, he promised to shorten them.  However, the next week he went on again too long but apologized by saying he felt what he had to say was important. (It wasn’t the least bit important and once again I was almost compelled to throw things at him) We did get an assistant pastor which excited everyone, but he disappeared within a month with no explanation to the congregation.

Our parish was made up of some very wealthy and influential people who decided to speak directly with the Bishop in Charleston with our complaints.  The Bishop’s reply was “Is he still there?”

Within a short time the announcement was made by our pastor that he was leaving for further studies within the church. He seemed happy with his big promotion and the membership was ecstatic because we would no longer be compelled to listen to his unending and senseless sermons.

A PROUD FAMILY

Several days ago we received a speakerphone call from our son, daughter-in-law and their three children. The first to speak was our eighteen year old granddaughter who informed us she had graduated from high school that evening. Then with great pride her parents informed us she had graduated summa cum laude.  They were so proud of her accomplishments and so are we.

FRIENDS FOR LIFE  (I Hope)

When on my birthday trip, our 18 year old granddaughter shared a bedroom with her 13 year old cousin. For the first time I noticed they spent a great deal of time talking. The two 11 year olds ran everywhere together which is their usual pattern. Our teen-ager grandson spent time playing basketball with his uncle and in the boat with the adult men as the women did the things women do. But the two older girls were bonding and seemed to have a lot to talk about.

With all this going on, I realized that as they all become adults they’ll probably look forward getting together to enjoy each other’s company.  At the wedding of our youngest daughter, her friends told her they couldn’t believe how well we all got along. For them dysfunctional families seemed to be the norm.

All this reminded me of a conversation I had with my brand new sister-in-law at her wedding some forty-odd years ago. The bride, who was 19 years old, told me to remember that my 14 year old daughter belonged to her generation and I definitely did not. This proved to be true and I’m always reminded of that fact when we get together. We still laugh about it.

HOME INVASION

I had just left the kitchen when our front door was kicked in by a man who said he needed help. His hand was wrapped in a towel. It was our next door neighbor and in his very British accent said that he had very stupidly lifted up his lawnmower by his hands while it was still running and cut off his finger.

I told him to sit down while I called a doctor/neighbor who owned several walk-in clinics hoping he would take care of him. Alas, no one was home, so I had to put him in my car to get help. Driving down the long access road that ran by our golf course community there was very little traffic. Peter was in much pain and writhing in the front seat, moving his head up then down.

Miraculously a sheriff car was passing by going in the other direction. I honked my horn loudly and he stopped. I had to back up to speak to him. By law he couldn’t put the man in his patrol car but said he’d drive ahead of me with his lights on so I could go quickly. At a major intersection, he stopped traffic so I could go a short distance to the walk-in clinic owned by our neighbor. It would have taken another fifteen minutes to go to our hospital emergency room. I ran inside to alert the staff, they brought him inside. I then sat in the waiting room relieved that he was no longer my problem. I was informed that when they removed the towel covering his hand that my neighbor very fortunately had only cut off the tip of his finger.

HOME INVASION (PART 2)

For your information:

In hot weather our front door usually swelled, so we didn’t push it all the way closed because it was so hard to open. When Peter kicked the door open, he could see it wouldn’t cause much harm, just leave a dirty foot print.

Before all this happened, my son had stopped to visit after class before heading to the house he shared with several other college students. My high school daughter was on her way home from her part-time job. I had informed my husband of all of this when he called to say he was on his way.

On the access road he passed me driving behind the policeman, but at that time Peter had his head down in pain, so my husband thought I was alone. He went home and called our son’s house to find out if he was OK. Our daughter came home a little later, while my husband was on the phone. At that time I called from the doctor’s office to say where I was. Not being able to get thru, I called a neighbor who lived on the other side of the golf course to inform him where I was. She said she could see him leaving our driveway so he must know where I was. He didn’t.

Panicking, he drove past the doctor’s parking lot where I was and drove to the hotel where my son had a part-time job. He wasn’t scheduled to work that day, so he then drove to the hospital emergency room. Returning home, our daughter told him the neighbor had called to say where I was.

In the meantime, the same neighbor called the vice president of the company of which Peter was president. There were several of his employees living in our community.

The word went out, so three or four people came to the doctor’s office where I was waiting for the medical staff to be through so I could take him home. He was shocked upon seeing all these people waiting for him.

CURSIN’

I had a friend who put a curse on me. When we were moving from Ohio my friend gave me a gift. It was something to hang on a hook in my kitchen window which she had gotten at an art fair and was really lovely. I was very pleased and expressed my thanks. She said I really shouldn’t thank her because every time I saw it in my new home I was cursed to think of her. It no longer hangs in my window, but when I do run across it in a drawer, I still think of her.

Now I always put a curse on small gifts to friends.

MY OBSESSION WITH TELEVISION COOKING SHOWS

Fact #1 -----I’m obsessed with watching television chefs doing gourmet cooking

Fact #2 -----I’m not interested in doing gourmet cooking

Fact #3 -----I don’t think I’d enjoy eating most of what those gourmet chefs cook

My passion for television cooking shows began when I was a young stay at home mom. Every weekday on a Pittsburgh television station, I watched the first cooking show I can ever remember, “Kay’s Kitchen”.  Kay was an overweight young woman in her 30’s who taught viewers how to cook rather basic things. I had learned to cook watching my grandmother and mother but she broadened my horizons by showing how to prepare food in a more modern way. Her show was only 15 minutes long, but was filled with much information because there weren’t many commercials. Eventually she married and moved to Hawaii, but before she left she had taught me many things.

In the mid 1950’s television was in its infancy and striving to teach us housewives how to benefit from using new products. So they replaced my cooking lessons with a woman demonstrating how to use a mangle to iron sheets and pillow cases, with the added bonus of using the same machine to iron my husband’s shirts.

She also praised the benefits of using a portable oven which could hold up to a 30 pound turkey.

Following Kay’s departure, I was left with no cooking mentor for many years. Of course Julia Child came on the scene, but French cooking was not something I was interested in. My idea of gourmet food was dining  in a restaurant which served steak cooked rare, a baked potato with sour cream and a tossed salad with bleu cheese dressing. I no longer enjoy a rare steak.

Through the following years, with five growing children I learned to do many things with pantry staples and was quite content with my cooking until one Saturday morning I called for my husband to see this woman on television who making decadent desserts for her new audience using enourmous amounts of butter along with other fattening items. After they was baked, topped with whipping cream and beautifully displayed for the camera, she actually took a huge bite out of each one, sighing and rolling her eyes over each delectable piece and I had found a new friend.

That day was more than 25 years ago and now, besides Paula, I’ve become fascinated with many more television cooking shows.  I especially enjoy Ina who is always cheerfully using new ideas to make comfort food. Jeffrey, her husband seems to be gone most of the week, but when he comes home on Friday, Ina shows us the wonderful meal she is preparing for his return. He has such a sweet nature and appreciates everything she does for him. My husband gets upset when I say how much I like Jeffrey.

However, my favorite cooking shows are “Top Chef” and “Chopped”. I'm always fascinated by chefs preparing artistic platefuls of foods sometimes with ingredients I've never heard of and using cooking terms I don’t understand. Once in the newspaper, I saw an explanation of “duck confit”. Thank god I finally found out what that meant. Speaking of duck, how can anyone eat barely cooked duck breast and call it tasty?

I will admit I sometimes cry when someone I admire wins the final show, however I really don't like it when the same chefs are covered with tattoos and strange hairdos which seem to be the norm nowadays for both the men and women.

Although I clip many, many recipes from newspapers and magazines, I still rely on cooking the things we like best. I more or less stay in my own comfort zone.  On holidays we have the traditional meals that most people serve with very few variations.  On Christmas Eve our children and grandchildren have always come to our home for our usual Christmas dinner and gift-giving party. There are about nineteen members of the family attending and I usually prepare most of the food.

I decided last Christmas to change the menu and do boneless pork on the grill to be served with several sauces. Unfortunately boneless pork chops were going to cost about $4.00 a pound that week and frozen
turkey breasts at Target were only $.99 a pound, so I switched to the traditional turkey for about 20 people and instead of sweet potatoes with marshmallows, I cubed and oven fried them. I added a new vegetable casserole along with our usual vegetables. Then it became necessary to have cranberry sauce along with my planned Caesar salad and then add in mashed potatoes and gravy as well. So our meal became traditional with a few enjoyable twists. It was a wonderful dinner, but for next year we discussed just ordering pizza.

Oh, one other thing. My new menu also featured a sauce that I had planned to use on the pork, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find a recipe using the same ingredients suggesting that it could be paired with roast turkey.  Still, I very joyfully announced to one and all that I was serving a sauce of cherry preserves infused with a balsamic vinegar reduction.