Bad news

Yesterday I could understand why my sister-in-law explains every Christmas that she does not watch the news; it's just too depressing.

Tony Stewart ran down a 21 year old kid -- mistake or not -- and killed him after he had bumped the kids car off the track.

Stewart and his 21 year-old victim

 Michael Brown, an unarmed 18 year old, was shot and killed in the St. Louis area. 

Brown's mom

 Ferguson, MO erupted after his death with rioting and looting that has lasted for two night.

Teens in St. Louis demonstrating for the police -- Don't shoot!  I surrender! 

 President Obama goes on TV to remind us that the bombing in Iraq will not solve the ISIS problem; the Iraqi prime minister refuses to step down and the power struggle in Baghdad grown worse.

Iraq -- again

 Finally, our muse, Robin Williams felt he could no longer overcome the ravages of depression and took his life at age 63.  I especially loved him in Mork and Mindy, The World According to Garp, What Dreams May Come, Bicentennial Man, Good Morning Vietnam, Good Will Hunting, Toys, Moscow on the Hudson, Dead Poets Society, and of course, Mrs. Doubtfire.  I happily watched every episode of his 2013 / 14 TV series, The Crazy Ones -- it was sweet and always ended with a good moral.  I was sad when I learned it had been canceled.  I know he screwed up his personal life and I can only imagine what that kind of rapid-fire mania his brain must have experienced -- but he brought such joy to his public.  He was a genius with a good heart and he brought us much happiness. 

It was a bad, sad day yesterday.  Today we try to correct the problems and recover from the grief. 

The Gamer

As a kid my favorite toys were my paper dolls.  I had a huge carton where I kept all the clothing for the dolls but I only played with two of the actual dolls themselves.  One was designated for whichever friend had enough imagination to play paper dolls with me; my doll was always Susan Hayward.  It didn't matter that the clothes may have come from other dolls -- we would cut and alter to make them fit the dolls we were playing with.  We had hundreds of outfits to choose from and we could imagine lifestyles for our "girls" that were, to us, wildly exotic and full of adventure. 

Sometime around age 12 I gave up toys but I held on to my box of paper dolls even into adulthood.  Along with nearly all my childhood dreams, they were left behind when I finally moved out of my mother's house in 1973.  She gave everything of mine away to Goodwill as punishment so now I only had my memories of the fun I had with those paper dolls.  At least twice a year I check out paper dolls on the web but quickly realize that those days have long passed me by. 

Sometime around 2000, I found The Sims computer game and bought my first edition.  The fun was that no goals were set in playing the game, you simply created a "virtual" human (a Sim), built him or her a house, and made a life for the creature.  I loved building the houses and decorating them.  I loved creating huge wardrobes for my Sim.  I wasn't much into the actual living arrangements of my creation but there were plenty of cheats I could access to make sure that my Sim had enough money to buy the materials to create the perfect home and live the perfect life.  There was also a great community of creative folks out there making lots of additions to the game and the company that built the game (Maxis) kept adding new versions (Pets, University Life, Vacation Life, etc.) to ensure I spent plenty of money to keep my Sim current.

The only problem was that if you downloaded enough of the user creations eventually you would find one that would blow the game off your computer.  The number of times I had to reinstall The Sims games and then sort through which download had caused problems finally made the game nearly impossible.  Plus Electronic Arts gained control of the game and issued a new version of it -- Sims 2  which I didn't find those nearly as much fun to play.  Each addition to the game began requiring more and more computer memory and high-end graphics and I finally gave up my Sim life. 

Still, I always remembered just how much fun the original game had been, and just like my paper dolls of eras past, I wanted one more go at creating a perfect Sim.  Just as I retired I discovered that the original Sims game was free for download so I accessed it.  Most of the great user created objects / characters had now vanished so the game wasn't nearly as much fun for me. 

I began looking at Sims 3, a game I had never tried.  The game could be downloaded now -- initially you had to buy it by disk -- so I tried it out for the cheap price of around $20 for the original plus two other additions / worlds.  It can also be played interactively with others, but I'm much too much of a loner to want others messing around in my created worlds. 

My addiction began all over again and this time around EA (Electronic Arts) had noted the user created problems and retained control of the process through an Exchange that only put out items that were safe to install in your game. They now offer Sim dollars (which you have to purchase in $20 increments) that allow you to add more objects and worlds to your game, besides all the free downloads.

I currently have all the worlds and many of the upgraded venues.  My Sims creations are numerous, though I'm not exactly creative.  If I know you, you are probably in my Sim game, living in a palace filled with exotic furnishings and taking vacations to China, France, or India.  You might or might not have children, but you certainly have a pet -- a dog, a cat, a horse, or something only a Sim could create (like maybe a unicorn).  Nearly all my Sims have been to college and most have a degree.  You don't have extensive wardrobes like in the past but you live in the most grand creations that take hours of my time to build and decorate.  Most of you live by the sea, though mountains are plentiful, too.  You can travel to the future, snorkel in the ocean, live on a houseboat, and "woohoo" with the most popular Sim in the game. 

Instead of blogging I'm busy creating my own fantasy world, filled with only rich, educated, smart people living the grand life.  Incidentally,  EA is releasing Sims 4 in the fall.  I've actually had to have the conversation with Hubby about getting a more "graphic" computer, so I can continue my life of game playing.  Clearly this addition is not abating. 

Here is what Wikipedia says about The Sims:

The success of The Sims resulted in Guinness World Records awarding the series five world records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. These records include "World's Biggest-Selling Simulation Series" and "Best Selling PC Game of All Time" for the original The Sims game, which sold 16 million units, 100 times EA's original projection of 160,000 units.

Sunday Feasting

Barbecue, corn on the cob, watermelon, fried chicken, potato salad, and sparklers:  this is connotative of  the 4th of July.

We met friends last weekend at a local famous fried chicken joint so that taste had been satisfied.  The potato salad and summer fruit was calling to me still.

Saturday we went to the local expensive market -- not a supermarket but a smaller independent grocery and I got a five pound bag of potatoes, a couple of potent onions, and two bone-in very thick pork chops (for $7.30 just for the chops), along with grapes, cherries, oranges, apples, and honey dew. 

After CBS Sunday Morning and ABC with George Stephanopoulos, or weekly Sunday TV fare, Hubby boiled the potatoes, pared them, added the onions and turned it all into a nice potato salad.  I broiled the pork chops in butter and garlic salt.

We feasted, gorging on the chops and sharing the bones with boys.  We were too full to even have the fruit for dessert.  

Just a couple of little things . . .

. . . to prove that I haven't forgotten about the blog yet again.

• A bit of warmer weather has made me feel happier.  We had nearly a week of temps above freezing.  Of course we are now hearing reports of intermittent snow and no temps are supposed to go above freezing for the next six days but still my bones got a small reminder that one day sooner, rather than later, spring will come.  

• Heard about Malwarebytes.com and activated it on the desktop PC (which runs McAfee) and so far have found 143 Malware hits on the computer.  Such a problem -- especially since Hubby continues to download suspicious items that he find interesting.  I'm not going to renew McAfee again.  

• I'm almost solidly using the laptop now -- and running Norton on it -- I like Norton much better.  The Malware problem has not invaded the laptop (yet).  

• Haven't heard from Google for install date -- but I'm pining for them.  We were tentatively scheduled for a January - March install, but the bad weather may have delayed things. 

• AT&T service has been much better since New Years when that poor repairman worked in the snow and cold on New Year's Day to find that problem in an outlying line.  However, on Saturday we once again didn't have internet service. 

• The pink Lincoln fuel line problem re-surfaced so Hubby had a new one installed; that led to several downturns (fix one thing another goes belly-up) but we now seem to be running smoothly.

• Cooking every day is a chore most of the time -- I really miss eating out.  However, having good cookware is a decided blessing.  I've tossed a lot of "crap" out of the kitchen -- things we didn't use or ugly, worn out pans.  The only thing I've added has been the iron skillet which I use about once a week.  Still that skillet is really heavy and it's hard to for me to easily move it around.  Thankfully, most days Hubby is willing to eat whatever I fix but one day last week he threw a tantrum over a baked potato with a peel on it.  I think the arthritis pain must have really been getting to him; he's even cooked potatoes with the peels himself.  

• We missed water aerobics on Wednesday and Friday of last week because the Lincoln wasn't running.  We have started back this week, though, even in this new cold spell. 

Pretty much that's the news from our crib.  Until next time . . . peace out.  

First Day of Summer

Yesterday, June 20, a Thursday, was the longest day of the year.  Traditionally the summer solstice falls on June 21st but this year because of our position on Earth in relation to the sun, the US celebrated a day early.

The summer solstice occurs when Earth's axis is the most tilted toward the sun -- the angle is known as "maximum axial tilt." As a consequence, the sun rises at its most northeasterly point along the horizon and also sets at its most northwesterly point in the northern hemisphere.  Our days lengthen and spin, full of unknown possibilities and moments of pure, unfettered freedom. 

Science aside, summer is the time to relax, swim in the outdoor pool, sip lemonade, read trashy novels, and wear minimal clothing.  Summer is for traveling, even if it's just 20 miles away in the countryside, a time for eating out of doors, for planning day-long adventures, for connecting with old friends. 

Let's agree to make the most of this summer. Who knows how many more we have ahead of us?

 

Check That One Off

When I retired, one of the things I swore we'd get accomplished is some appraisals on the things we own that might (or might not) be valuable.

We have a couple of art works (that I've written about in the past) that need appraising -- for selling or donating -- whichever the case requires.

It's hard to find an art appraiser, especially if you're cheap.  I tried all the free ones that are national but everything we own came back as "un-appraise-able," mostly I suspect because the artists are minor and difficult to trace.  Eventually I began to send out an email here and there to locals, and decided the first one to respond with a reasonable rate would warrant an appointment.

We heard back today from FaFa Appraisers.  Ha!  What a silly name -- so fru-fru -- right?  The woman owner would do a thirty minute appraisal for $50 which seemed reasonable if we brought the art to her.  This is doable except for the mural sized painting over the sofa in the basement -- and for that we'll use a photo and detailed description to see if she should come view it in person.  

I don't think we own the equivalent of a lottery ticket (or three tickets?) but at least we'll know what we've actually got.  And I can check one more thing off the "to-do" list.  With the actual cleaning of the inside of the refrigerator last week, this makes five things checked off the retirement list since a year ago June.  Way to go, Milly!  Could you move any slower?

June is Bustin' Out All Over

Half the year has gone by and I don't know where it went.  A second ago it 2010.  I wish I could say it was because "time flies when you're having fun" but the scientists actually think this just is actually what happens when you get old.

As people age, "they just have this sense, this feeling that time is going faster than they are," says Warren Meck, a psychology professor at Duke University.

Some scientists think this is because when you experience something for the first time more details get stored in your memory.  Because you are processing so many new events it feels like time is taking forever to "encode" on your mind.

"It's a construction of the brain," says Neuroscientist David Eagleman of Baylor College of Medicine. "The more memory you have of something, you think, 'Wow, that really took a long time!'

Naturally, science has more than one explanation for why time speeds up as we age.  You can do your own research on it.

Meanwhile five months of the year have passed:  Hubby and I are both a year older (and to be depressing about it -- a year closer to death).  Our older dog, Gus, has slowed down considerably from where he was twelve or even six months ago.  Luie, the pup, is now a full-fledged adult, willing to accept slower walks in the park and less time romping with his papa.  The pink Town Car needs a few more repairs than it did in the late winter months and Hubby has even begun thinking it might need to be replaced.  Our shoulders and knee are stiffer while all our joints creak more.  We sleep less at night and nap more during the day.  We are required to hire more help around the house.

Two things are required, the scientists say, to keep time from slipping away so elusively:

1. Take advantage of new and unique experiences; when we go to the same places and do the same things, we don't make distinct memories and time seems to fly by.
2. Focus on positive (rather than negative) past memories, trying to live more in the present, and holding a positive perception of the future.

Our goal for June is to use our time wisely -- and be happy.  Maybe we can slow the inescapable clutches of time just a little bit. 

Shss! It's a Secret

Since this is my birthday weekend and I'm suddenly older in body than is reasonably right for the mental age I've achieved, I thought I'd share just a few of the many "dirty" secrets I hold near and close.  Get ready to be shocked.

I overload my dishwasher.  I have a teeny, tiny kitchen and the only dishwasher that wouldn't take up too much valuable kitchen cabinet space is apartment size.  This means it's half the size of a regulation dishwasher.  You should see my eyes glaze over when I see what my sister-in-law in Houston can get in HER dishwasher!  Because mine is so narrow, only a few things go into at time but if you have a sink full of dishes, (another little secret -- I don't wash up after every eating) you keep cramming in glasses and silverware, and bowls, and storage containers, and pots, and lids, and trays -- until you have to use your hip to lock the thing closed.  I must have about the best dishwasher in the city because almost always I find the dishes and everything else coming out sparkling clean.

Another secret about my dishwasher is that I didn't know it had a "food catcher" in it that one should clean out regularly.  It was only this year when I lost a knife in the bottom of my dishwasher and didn't discover it until most of the handle had melted away that I found the filter and realized I should have been cleaning it out at least monthly.

Only very close family know I have a police record, have been followed by police for over a month, and have been arrested.  In 1974 and in 1976 when I was working for the Kansas City School District I went on strike with the AFT (American Federation of Teachers' Union).  The first time the union won handily and I was not a target.  The second time, as a strong union supporter  in a city that was determined to break the union, I found myself under surveillance anytime I was on the picket line -- and sometimes just had police following me around the city when I wasn't picketing.  Police cars were on our street, on watch, 24/7.  I was even arrested for blocking traffic during a protest (I WAS blocking traffic and I did totally refuse to move), put in a paddy wagon, and transported to a cell -- where I happily played Spades for a couple of hours until the union paid the bail.  When the union lost the second strike, one of the settlements they did manage to retain was that those of us arrested our records expunged.

I also have an FBI file.  In 1966 I married a man from Afghanistan; stupidest thing I've ever done.  He was a zealot, a liar, we had nothing in common, and he was the most beautiful man I've ever seen except in the movies.  It was libido, pure and simple.  We divorced two years later -- but he never actually "let go" even though I really never saw him much after the divorce.  Periodically I would get phone calls in the middle of the night or at someplace he should never have know I was -- and there would be Zia, issuing threats or offering cajoling promises.  He really didn't want me back; he just hated to lose and he had the Afghan community in KC keep tabs on me all his life.  Anyway, he had all kinds of connections to the Middle East and was in Iran when they took the hostages during the Carter Administration.  He had his American citizenship (thanks to me) and when he was grabbed and thrown into prison for buying guns for Afghanistan, the US had to negotiate his release.  He was the last of the "Americans" released from his Irani captors.  When Russia invaded Afghanistan in the 1980's, he started several organizations to supply money and weapons to his home country.  He had a pretty high profile in D.C. and New York for awhile, as he tried to negotiate Afghan freedom but he took one trip too many to the Middle East and finally he was captured and presumably killed by the rebels or the Russians or somebody or other.  He has never been seen since the 1990's.  The FBI would show up at my door and question me about him, if I had heard from him, etc., whenever he would get himself into some pot of very hot water.  They were always very businesslike and pleasant.  I never felt threatened by them -- but I wonder if I had ever tried to get a passport to Asia of the Middle East if I'd show up on a "No Fly" list.

Twice I filed suit against the Kansas City School District.  After the second strike ended in 1976 I received one of two "disciplinary" transfers out of my school.  The principal claimed I was and would continue to be a disruption to the morale of the teaching body.   The two of us (both from the same school) filed suit against the district.  Time went on while the union lawyers and the district argued about the suit.  Eventually I discovered I really liked the new school much, much better --it honestly felt more like a promotion than a discipline.  Finally after two years the district offered to settle the suit by agreeing to give back the jobs of all the "un-tenured" teachers they had laid off after the strike ended (one of the causes of the strike).  In return the two of us would just quietly drop the suit.  The union got everyone to agree that "disciplinary" would be removed from our records and just like that it was done.

 The second suit was filed in federal court to keep the district from tearing down Paseo High School AND, more importantly, transfer the entire senior class from the school to the Science and Math Magnet instead of the Performing Arts Magnet.  In 1991 Paseo was detonated and though the district never agreed to it, they eventually just quietly moved all the kids to Southwest, the science magnet.  We had a hell of fight on this one, with 18 of my students, juniors and seniors, leading the movement.  Each student was represented by their own personal lawyer, pro bono, and the lawyers billed over $600,000 in pro bono fees for the 11 months we fought the district. 

I have fallen in love with Facebook.  It's so much fun to check out what folks are doing in real time or see what people are reading today or what they have cooked.  Most of my favorite authors have their own pages and they send out notices when they have special offers on Amazon or have delayed writing a new novel.   Things I used to share here, now I'm writing on Facebook instead.  I think if I weren't retired I wouldn't be so having so much fun on the site but then a friend (I've never met) set up a Facebook group for some of us who stay in touch by email through Yahoo groups (I've actually only met in person one of these people). It seemed so easy that I quickly formed a group of friends here in the city -- people I actually can meet and talk with face to face -- so we can arrange our lunches and meetings.  I've taken to checking out Facebook two or three times a day.  I think I'm becoming addicted.  Here's my latest Facebook jotting, which probably would have made a great entry:

A fourth of a loaf of crispy fresh Cibatta bread, two large pats of soft butter, a ripe, huge, juicy slice of gleaming red watermelon, and a chilled bottle of fresh water -- gracious dining on a Friday night. So yummy!

Some secrets should be kept -- there is such a thing as revealing too much to people who will use these things against you.  But many secrets, when out in the open, help to unburden your soul.  So here's one more little secret -- right now I'm big time into romance novels.  I almost want to hang my head in shame but then Lauren Willig and Marion Chesney wouldn't be on my Kindle and I wouldn't be quite so delighted with the swashbuckling tales of early Scotland or Regency England.  I loved Fifty Shades of Gray and almost everything by Sylvia Day (yes, both are red hot sexy romances).  There was a small period of time in the 1970's when I dipped into the romance genre and then suddenly it bored me out of my mind.  Suddenly, though, I'm back into the mood for torrid, passionate kisses and loins that swell with . . . oh, you get the idea. 

Enough secrets for this year.  I feel lighter already.  Time to celebrate!

Five Things Today that Have Made Me Happy

1. The weather is warm enough to walk the boys without having to wear a coat.  It may be drippy (and sometimes actually rainy) and the grass may be so wet that my leather shoes soak up the water onto the tops of my socks, but I'm still walking without the burden of hat, scarves, mittens, and coat.  Even better the birds are singing us a sweet serenade as we walk, the trees are in full bud if not yet leaf, and the grass is deep green. 
   
2. Another deep joy has been sharing time with friends around tables of food.  The Wyandotte Ladies Who Lunch (retired teachers from Wyandotte High School in KCK) lunched at Aixois at 55th and Brookside in the Crestwood Shopping Center this week.  The food was excellent but even better was the talk around the table, sharing new gossip about school, family news, and health updates.  That lunch was followed by dinner with my concert-going friends at Los Tules Mexican Restaurant.  Hubby and I arrived early and I got to share some personal time with a friend that I haven't had much contact with lately, which managed to cheer me greatly. 
   
   
3. Our Mexican meal was followed by #3 on my list of happy events when we attended the final UMKC Conservatory Artist Series concerts.  Hubby was able to walk from the restaurant (just across the street at 16th and Baltimore) into the Kauffman Center and into his seat on the mezzanine level.  He wasn't actually able to go down the stairs into our seats, but they set up stand-alone chairs along the top level for him and he nearly made it through the entire concert, only having to leave during the last 15 minutes of the program.  We haven't made it through more than half of any concert in the past year, so this is quite an improvement.  The music was performed by the UMKC conservatory orchestra and concert choir and included Beethoven's Symphony #9, one of Hubby's favorites.  
   
4. The refrigerator is stocked with food, once again.  Living within our pension / social security checks, I'm trying to keep the food budget reasonable by stocking up only once a month.  Sometimes the pickings seem a little slim toward the end of the month -- not that we're ever hungry but that I have to made do with what's in the house.  This means I'm actually having to cook according to what's available -- not what we really want to eat or what's quick and fast.  I'm not the most creative cook so it's always nice when I have a wide variety of choices every day for our mealtimes.  Right now Hubby is happy with melon salad for lunch and a very good crockpot beef soup for dinner.  I like having things around that don't require anything more than a few minutes in the microwave before a full meal is ready.  
   
   
   
5. Finally, I'm wildly enthusiastic about the Charles Todd WWI era novels – I’m nearly through every single one of their novels in both series (one featuring a nurse; one about a man returned from WWI suffering from shell shock but trying to make it in Scotland Yard).  Charles Todd is a mother / son writing team who put together very clever mysteries while building up strong character identity.  In some ways I like their series better than the Maisie Dobbs books by Jacqueline Winspear – not the beginning books but the last two, anyway. Winspear has announced that she is not writing another Dobbs book for two years (ack! for many of us Dobbs has been a favorite read) while she travels to England to work on a new book, so a replacement series was called for.  Both my Kindles have been getting quite a work out in the past two weeks; I been charging one while using the other at least twice daily.  
   
   
   

Shklik! on Everything!

Things that are pissing me off right now:

Rain - Sleet - Snow.  Perpetual rain.  Mixed with sleet and sometimes snow.  This is the end of April.  Weather, what kind of confused are you right now?  This is not Colorado or Seattle or mountain country. In the Midwest we get spring!  Did you hear me clearly?  S P R I N G!  That means sunshine, blooming trees, sprouting plants, green grass, blue skies.  Not slush on the highway and huge puddles of cold sloppy water in the park.  Not! NOT! N O T!

Headache.  This is day five of the unending left side of my head pounding away, almost to the point where I can't keep my eyes open because it hurts just too much.  I'm living on Vanquish (my favorite form of aspirin) to the point where I'm sick to my stomach with it and my ears are ringing and still there is no relief in sight.  Maybe if the rain-sleet-snow would stop and the humidity levels would decrease, the pain threshold would lower.  Until then I'm suffering something fierce.  I can't read or watch TV or sit at the computer for any length of time because my headache only worsens when I use my eyes.  I'm cranky, I can't sleep, and I hurt!  Things are uneasy in my household.

Bad news reporting.  Why can't we trust reporters anymore?  And why do they keep repeating the same old stories over and over and over?  Why did CNN report that the Boston bomber was a dark-skinned man.  Why were two pictures repeatedly shown of innocent bystanders while reporting they were the bombers?  How many times can Anderson Cooper and Piers Morgan give the same story in a 24 hour period?  (Aside -- when you can't watch TV because your head hurts too much, you often find yourself listening to TV -- like we once listened to the radio).

People Magazine.  Really, People -- Gwyneth Paltrow as the most beautiful woman in the world?  Maybe the skinniest woman, other than Angelina Jolie -- both look like they have match sticks for limbs.  Then Gwyneth spends nearly the entire article explaining that her life revolves around working out, which is SO HARD on her.  And just wears her out.  All the pictures of the woman are showing off legs -- miles and miles of toned, slim thighs in white shorts.  What 40 year old woman with two kids and a real job looks like that?  This is the woman who advised the rest of us on how to spend a quarter million dollars for a new spring wardrobe and she advertises string bikinis for babies.  Pitooie on her!

Dryers.  My dryer timer went out and now I have to be around to turn off the dryer manually.  I know this is small potatoes but the dryer is in the basement, down a long flight of 15 steep stairs.  If I don't go down physically and turn the dryer off, it runs all day and all night (I found this out the hard way).  You can't leave the house with the dryer on, you can't go to bed and think you'll pull out the fluffy but cool towels in the morning.  And I'm too cheap to just go buy a new one when the dyer itself still dries clothes.  If I were doing diapers or loads of clothing for children, then I might consider the purchase, but right now I have to be the machine part that makes the dryer start and stop.  I bet Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't even DO her own laundry.

I think if the headache would only stop (which means if the weather would just clear up) I wouldn't be in such a pissy mood.  Until that happens SHKLIK (which according to the web means head popping off of body) to the whole world! 

What? How? Geez!

 Every two weeks or so, I scroll through the Turner Classic Movie channel on DISH and pick out old movies I have either loved or always wanted to see and I record them during the early morning hours when other things I watch regularly are NOT on the schedule. 

Consequently, I've had the fun of watching Bel Ami (ooh, Robert Pattinson is delicious!), North by Northwest (who doesn't love Cary Grant?),  and the Old Maid (no actress is better than Bette Davis) just this past week. 

Last week Finian's Rainbow showed up and I decided to record it because I didn't believe I'd ever seen it.  And I was right.  This was a 1968 version and unbelievably,  Francis Ford Coppola was director.  Which astounded me.  I had no idea that he had ever directed a musical like this.  It starred Fred Astaire as Finian and Petula Clark as the daughter.  This was Fred's last film screen musical and he was 69 years old. 

Finian's Rainbow was first on Broadway in 1947, according to Google info.  The movie is clearly a product of it's time -- the cooperative in Rainbow Valley is trying to produce a lucrative tobacco plant that is minty -- but problems arise when it won't light and then won't smoke.  Now-a-days smokeless tobacco would be all the thing. 

The racial satire in the film clearly depicts the attitudes of the 1960's but the scene in the movie where the black botanist tries to be a subservient butler to the very bigoted white Mississippi senator had me rolling on the floor.  I have not laughed so hard in a long, long time -- that scene is certainly worth the time I invested in the movie though I have to admit I did fast forward through long parts of the story that involved dancing around the glen trying to find Finian's pot of gold.  

Here's the strange thing, though -- and I have no idea how it happened.  I knew the music and lyrics to nearly every song in the show.  I don't remember ever hearing the songs played on the radio or having sung them in my youth.  I did not play them on the piano, own the record, and this wasn't the type of music my mother enjoyed and played by ear.  Clearly at some point in the 1950's or early 1960's I did hear all these songs -- and hear them often enough that I memorized them.  I have utterly no recollection of anything about this musical at all.  The plot was brand new to me -- I have NOT seen the movie or the stage play.  But I sure can sing a medley of tunes from the show. 

I know How are Things in Glocca Mora, Look to the Rainbow, Old Devil Moon, If This Isn't Love, and On That Great Gettin' Up Day -- word for word and note for note. How in the world was this possible? 

I wonder what else I might know and have no idea about?  Maybe I'm a science genius or have hidden artistic ability and just haven't discovered my talents yet.  Or maybe -- I have some hidden savant characteristics that lie undiscovered.  I'd better find them fast though, before I get too old to remember I've got them.

Look, look, look to the rainbow -- follow it over the hill and stream . . . 

. 

Count Your Blessings

My emotions have been sliding downhill for over a month.  The frigid temps and two feet of snow keeping us housebound haven't helped.  We haven't been out to exercise.  Both Hubby and I have been feeling under-the-weather as a consequence.  He has a rotten cold and I've just been "off" -- you know the feeling, things aren't right and you can't find the energy to actually accomplish anything of note. 

This morning while I was walking Luie, the blind pup, around the snow covered streets, trying to help him find a good place to do "his stuff," it occurred to me that I had been able for the past two mornings to get out of bed, get dressed in massive amounts of woolen materials, and head outside with a minimum of "unhappiness and displeasure."  Surely that was a blessing.  Luie did his "thing" with a lot of pleasure and joy in the outside activity and then it was Gussie's turn.  Walking him is more of a sedentary exercise since he's considerably older and a lot less spry.  He doesn't take the same pleasure in bounding into ice-packed snow drifts and being a lot smaller, he has more trouble finding spots that are shallow enough to make "doing your business outside" a reasonable activity.  Still he gamely keeps plodding forward until we eventually get our goals accomplished.  Both dogs enjoy our walks even though we are still unable to find park land that is not totally encased in several feet of snow.  I have to walk each separately so it takes a lot longer and Gussie is required to wear his leash, while in the park he can run free and determine his own pace and destination.  The blessing is that each dog understands the current difficulty and does his best to make sure our daily tasks are accomplished outside -- and not in the house. 

We were blessed that during these two terrible storms we didn't lose any tree limbs, our heat and power stayed on, and our roof did not cave in.  Many people in our city were not so fortunate.  Also we did NOT have to go anywhere during the storms, we were eventually able to get someone to shovel us out, but until then, we were able to cocoon in our house with our DISH network offering up over 100 channels, our computers operational, and our Kindles and Fires fully charged. 

Last night we had another wonderful blessing when we met with friends at the local soul food restaurant.  Huge platters of liver and onions, friend chicken, and chicken fried steak with cream gravy filled our table along with mixed greens, cabbage, mashed potatoes, fried green beans, candied yams, and corn bread.  Dessert was the requisite sweet potato pie and peach cobbler.  The conversation flowed, the laughs were many, the hugs were sweet.  The five of us make up a group of friends of similar ages and tastes who live fairly close together in our city and meet on a regular basis to share our lives, offering support, understanding, and love.  For me these people are a grounding force that helps revitalize me each time we meet.  If we haven't been together is over a month, I find myself yearning for their companionship, wanting to know how they are doing, how their lives are progressing.  And I want to share my life with them.  We hadn't all been together in more than three months, so the effort we put into meeting last night (one member drove from Salina, KS to be with us) really lifted my spirits.

Hubby is getting over his cold and though it's taking a long, long time he has not gone into congestive heart failure -- which happened every other time he got sick.  He still is not his usual self but he is not getting sicker and slowly we are making progress toward a more active life.  This is a blessing beyond measure.

Hubby also keeps trying to make his C-pap machine work.  The "snotty" cold made wearing the C-pap hose which fits in his nostrils difficult -- and sneezing with the machine on full blast caused phlegm to run down his throat and nearly coke him. He's never made a full night of wearing it but at least he keeps trying. 

We've had a rough patch financially and have had to watch the budget pretty closely simply because of all the medical bills (both canine and human) and the taxes that needed to be paid.  It's a blessing we can afford the meds that are needed to keep us both functioning, as well as meet the doctor and hospital bills. Also the utilities are paid, the larder is full, and the car is still running.  I don't need to go out and find a part time job yet -- and this is HUGE accomplishment.  I love retirement and to have the means to actually afford to continue not working is the second best blessing of all -- Hubby's striving for health being number one. 

It's still very cold outside and the snow is knee deep, but slowly the drifts are sinking and the melting is progressing.  Though our trash hasn't been picked up in over a week and everybody on our block now has dog-bitten plastic bags strewn around their curbs, we hope that tomorrow (our normal trash pick-up day) we may actually get some of our refuse removed.  Wednesday I'm going to venture out on my own to meet the "Ladies Who Lunch" from Wyandotte High School and we're going to have the best Chinese food in the city in mid-town -- we'd postponed our February meeting due to the weather.  Then on Thursday and Friday the temperatures are really supposed to warm up and we might actually feel like we should be "springing forward" with daylight savings this weekend -- and the first day of spring actually is coming this month (the 20th!). 

Blessings all around.  You just have to lift up your spirits and count them. 

Notes in Passing

We've had over two feet of snow fall at our house in the past week; most of it still on the ground.  The second round of snow was much heavier than the first.  We do have a path to the driveway and from the driveway to the street but we have not felt up to leaving the house for the past three days.  The car is ice covered anyway. 

The last news report claimed that over 100,000 people lost power in this area due to the heavy snow on the trees.  We had our lights flicker just briefly but they never went out completely.  In every other storm where power was lost in the city (the 1970's, the 1980's, and the early 2000's) we lost power every time.  The last time we were down for nine days so we were very grateful to be missed in this storm. 

Yesterday I walked the boys in the street and Luie was able to navigate well enough to do his business; Gussie had a much harder time of it.  I'm resigning myself to paper towel pick up in the living room and then heavily deodorizing the carpet. I didn't bother to walk them today.  Hubby has been putting them on their leashes and letting them go as far as they're able, while he stands patiently watching from the front door.  They are coping pretty well but all of us desperately want to have an outing soon. 

The new Masie Dobbs novel and the new Alex Delaware mystery were delivered to my Kindle / Fire.  I've had my fill of TV but Hubby is still locked into his 1960's - 1980's TV reruns.  Yuck.

I did watch and enjoy the Academy Awards on Sunday night.  Hubby relinquished the TV while he played computer games.  He tried to watch for an hour of red carpet reports but that was all he could take.  Though the show was panned by many critics, I enjoyed it very much -- more than usual.  I thought the musical numbers were really good and especially enjoyed the Les Miz tribute.  Why everyone thinks Russell Crowe is so awful is beyond my ken.  I think he sings very well;  he's no Alfie Boe -- but Hugh Jackson is no Alfie Boe either.

Periodically I get some kind of strange allergic reaction to .. . well, I don't know what it is.  The result is that my lips swell to enormous proportions and burn like crazy, then crack and bleed and peel.  The first time it happened I could actually see my lips by just looking downward.  That time I ended up in the emergency room.  The second time I simply walked into my doctor's office and they shot me full of  an antihistamine.  Now I just take an over the counter allergy med and wait awhile and eventually the lips resume normal size.  It think it's a reaction to the Celebrex and some of my other meds so I lay off the pain meds for a while and things work out without paying for a doctor's visit.  I do look pretty funny for a day or so, though.  On Tuesday the lips started to swell and it took six doses of Bennedril before I finally began to look like myself again.  Now I'm struggling to cope with the bleeding, peeling areas just above and below my lip line. 

Hubby got a scare when his heart rate zoomed up from his normal 65 to 95 but on calling the cardiologist we found out that his rate has been set to go between 60 and 95 and he need not worry.  Wish we'd been told that earlier.  We did do the first reading of his pacemaker and sent it off by phone line to the doctor's office.  We have to do this every three - six months.

Hubby made a macaroni / hamburger casserole at the start of the second huge winter storm.  That has lasted us through most of the evening meals but today I had to concoct a tuna salad which Hubby ate completely in one sitting.  I think we're going to have to actually do a store run this weekend.

That's pretty much all the news from the Heartland.  There was a lot of snow. There still is a lot of snow.  There will be a heaping lot of snow until the weather warms up. 

Oops! #3

The dogs must be walked.  They are both too short to find a spot where their eliminations can occur on park land simply because the snow is still way too deep.  All the parts that do the eliminations are buried in snow that has been laid over with a coating of ice.

Hubby's frozen larynx means he cannot tolerate the cold air outside, plus he is in rehab to try and re-establish some of the balance he has lost because of his lousy knees.

That leaves me.  I have never been graceful or coordinated; some days it's a challenge for me to remain upright (even in our own house) and I have learned that I fall like a tree in the forest -- straight down on my kisser, nothing delicate or ladylike about it.

At the Oscar's last night, Jennifer Lawrence took a tumble, tripping over her voluminous gown trying to go up the stairs to the stage.  She did it quite prettily and I thought to myself, "Yes, that's how to fall in public; just float down in a circle of satin and lace, land like a tumbling autumn leaf on the stairs, wait a moment, and then rise swanlike and continue onward.  The next time I fall down I'm going down like Jennifer Lawrence."

I have been walking the dogs down the middle of our street which was plowed but still had a packed snow cover.  Yesterday was a fairly nice day, the sun shone, the temps were above freezing.  It was really easy to walk the boys down the street, cut over if they were not doing their business fast enough, and then head back home after a couple of blocks.  Both boys understood the need to "go" in strange places and did their business with alacrity.

Last night the freezing cold set back in and the melting on the streets and our sidewalk turned to black ice.  My very expensive winter dog walking shoes coped with the snow just fine but on the ice they turn into frozen soled ski boots and shoot right out from under me, while I wobble around trying to retain balance like a drunken clown on stilts.

This morning I hook up Luie, who enjoys walking in the snow (or the ice or the subterranean heat -- any time, any place, any weather conditions)  and we start out the front door with Gussie watching.  I'm not stupid enough to try and walk both dogs together in this kind of weather.  We go one at a time.  Luie is careful, he skirts the first ice spot on the walk by leaping into a drift of snow and powering through. I navigate the first spot but the second catches me unawares and the left foot slides out into the air, leaving me balance on the right which is skating precariously forward, pitching me, boobs first into the sidewalk.

It's a slow motion comedy routine.  I'm sure, if Luie could have seen it he would have laughed out loud (remember, Luie's blind).  The lease flies from my grip, my hands bust out to cushion the ongoing fall, the knees bend and I'm down.

The ice is unforgiving.  It will not let me get up.  I'm on my hands and knees and I try to find purchase on the slick ice but it's a no-go.  I slide forward, then back, then I'm on my butt.  I roll over and try again, calling to Lu who is now free and running down the driveway toward the street. I roll into the snow drift and try to use the cold, ice covered snow to get me upright.  I sink into the drift and fall sideways. 

I roll back over and try again to get upright but neither foot can find a spot that doesn't just propel me backward or sideways but never up.  Luie, now realizing that something is wrong is standing stock still in the driveway, waiting to see what his crazy human is going to try next.

I roll back onto my knees and begin crawling over the ice and pavement to the front steps, where blessedly the ice has not formed.  Once my palms find purchase on the steps, I can pull myself upright.  I can hear Luie's leash knock, knock, knocking on the driveway but I'm not sure if he's heading for the freedom of the street or back to help me.

The neighbor across the street opens her upstairs window to call out.  "Do you need help?" she queries. "Are you hurt?"

I'm banged up a bit, the bruises from the last fall have not yet healed and now they ache worse, but I'm really not hurt in any discernible way.  There is no blood, just scraped palms and a jarring feeling to my shoulders and back that promise a dull ache that will continue for a couple of days.  The bruised knee took most of the fall and will certainly bruise more heavily but clearly nothing is broken.

"Just got to get the dog," I call back.  Gus is standing at the door, bouncing up and down, hoping I'm coming back for him so he can join in the fun.  Then I see little Luie clomping back towards me, dragging his retractable lease, coming to find out what all the fuss is about.

Luie and I resume our walk but we don't go far before I realize the street has turned into a skating rink and I'm not up for doing arabesques this morning.  We head back for the safety of our own house and Luie, in a spate of deep animal sympathico, hastily does his business right in our own front yard.  Gusie is even quicker as I lease him up.  We get down the drive, into the parking area, and he manages to squat without first examining every twig, ice lump, snow bump, and discarded paper cup along the way.  Soon enough we are back in the house, safe and warm.  

Clearly I do not have osteoporosis and my bones can withstand a whole lot of bumps and bangs.  That's the good news.  The awful news is that another huge storm is headed our way with 100% chance of a huge snow event -- 15 or more inches of snow to fall on what is already here and warnings of power outages to accompany it.  I dread to think what walking the dogs on Tuesday and Wednesday may be like. 

Snow Day

The snow started yesterday morning early.  By 7:30 it was blizzarding down so we donned our cold weather gear and got the pups to the park post haste. We walked in near white out conditions, then sped home to warm ourselves with toast and cocoa.

The snow continued all through the day, with small respites until late night.  Now we are completely snowed in -- the most snow we can remember in the last 20 (?) years.

Age and heart conditions have meant that Hubby has not been snow shoveling for several years -- thus, we no can no longer find a shovel in our garage.  The snow is too deep to broom it away from the stoop.  In fact, we had real trouble opening the storm door because of the snow depth.

Finally, at 9:00 this morning I put on the heavy winter clothing and waded out through the garage, hoping to blaze a path for the doggies, who have been patiently "holding" since yesterday morning.  Last night we did kick them off the stoop into a small path beside the side of the house where both doggies eventually gave up and some "business."  Luie was braver than Gussie but then Luie is quite a bit taller. 

Poor little Gus is simply out of luck.  He is just way too short, too stubby, and too old to cope in this snow.  There is a layer of freezing rain on top of the snow that causes him to sink below the surface with little crackling sounds all around him and then he disappears into the drifts and can't make progress going forward.  Luie is braver, taller, and more agile, so I could pull him into the pathway that I tried to blaze from the front door to the tree in our front yard.  Being blind, though, he flailed around, sinking deeper into the surrounding snow, getting colder and colder until we finally had to give up, and crash our way through the snow that was almost knee deep back into the house. 

Hubby has not ventured outside at all.  He has tried to call in the troops to come shovel and snowplow us out but his main crew has twice been snowplowed by the city crews into non-operational mode.

We have a super warming furnace, we have a good roof over our heads, we have plenty of snacks and healthy foods -- we just don't have a way to get the boys outside. The driveway is impassible, the car is buried, and we can only stand on our front stoop and look out at the white world encasing us.   This may become a long, stinky weekend. 

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Addendum:  You know, I thought that being snowed in would be okay.  We have all our physical needs met and we should be able to cocoon ourselves into pleasant dreams.   It isn't like that, though, when you have two doggies who sit longingly, staring out the screen door, or dancing on your belly in the bed, wanting to go outside and do their business and smell the business of the other animals in the neighborhood.  By 3 p.m. Friday we were experiencing a strong bout of cabin fever.  Hubby, however, knows folks in the 'hood.  We may not own a snow shovel and neither of us is in physical condition to run the snow blower (not in 15+ inch drifts) but eventually the crew showed up at the door.  Well, it was one man, but he had a shovel and was able to clear off the stoop, the small walkway to the drive, and the driveway.  We are now, once again, mobile (the old pink Lincoln can steer to the street) and I'm ever so grateful.  It took a couple of calls deeper into the 'hood to get the guy here, but Hubby's garage buddies (every African American neighborhood has the garage where the old codgers sit and chin and send out the youngsters to tow in the old wrecks we all drive) came through.  We have been rescued!  Thank the Lord and AMEN.