Goldenrod's thoughts

Along the Way .. #4

2010-07-03T09:04:00.002-05:00

Hi, all!

Just a short post to let you know that I am in Amherst, NH, with my family, safe and sound.

I arrived yesterday, late afternoon. Started driving Wednesday from Wooster, OH around 4:30pm, right after playing a session of duplicate bridge, and just kept on driving every time I woke up from a short nap or resting a few minutes with my eyes closed until - finally - I could not force another driving muscle to move even one more inch and pulled over at a rest stop about 70 miles away from Troy, New York at 6:30am Thursday morning, where I actually got a couple of hours of sleep in a car that was almost toasty warm with the morning sun streaming in the windows.

Started a post about that drive last night, but then realized I couldn't finish it because I didn't have all my data in hand and organized.

There will be several more posts in this series .. at least five or six, I would imagine. So, look for those. Think you'll find them of interest. And, perhaps you'll get a laugh or two.

Meanwhile, I'm ok. How are you doing?

Along the Way .. #3

2010-06-28T09:30:00.004-05:00

Eating out ...

Beth and I decided, very early on, that we wanted absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with fast food franchises on this trip ... ... so, goodbye to McDonald's, Arby's, IHOP, Jack in the Box, KFC, etc. And, except for my quite abnormal excursion in the middle of the night to a Waffle House (see this post), any and all such establishments received not a single visit from either of us.

However, I must tell you that my visit to the Waffle House re-awakened a keen desire for 'real' bacon and eggs - these free continental breakfasts at motels, while nice, leave a whole lot to be desired, you know?

Beth introduced me to Cracker Barrel, with whom I have since fallen in love. As a matter of fact, after I publish this post, I think I'll head back on down to Columbus' one and only Cracker Barrel location, where I fully intend to have three eggs over medium, bacon very crisp and hot chocolate. (I was there last night, but am salivating again! LOL)

Our last evening together in Memphis, Butch treated Beth and me to the best Chinese food I can ever remember eating! I had egg foo yung .. three or four large pieces - sinfully delicious! - I could only eat a couple of them. What a terrible loss for my tummy and appreciative taste buds! Butch took what was left on Beth's and my plates 'to go'. Boy, he would have had some really good stuff awaiting him when he zapped them in the microwave, wouldn't he? The three of us also shared an order of crab rangoon .. two each. Nothing left of any of those 'to go'. :) The name of the restaurant? Hunan

Monday evening in Louisville, I developed a sudden craving for apple pie ala mode. And so, after settling in at our motel - we'd acquired a taste for Baymont Inns - we went in search of same. It was going on 10 o'clock at night, and I didn't know how successful we might be, but we were trying to be optimistic. As an added plus, there was an IHOP in the area. (Oh no, a franchise!!) We knew they were open 24/7 and had a varied menu. We'd stop there as a last resort.

Some of the restaurants that presented possibilities were already closed. However, one of the restaurants still open that caught our attention was Applebee's. We thought sure that, with a name like Applebee's, they'd be offering an apple something-or-another. I mean, wouldn't you think so? "No" is the answer. (!?!) No, no and no again. We picked on them for what we considered an appropriate amount of time and then went on our way.

[Sorry, folks. Thought I could wait until I finished this before going out to eat, but I'm starving! More later. ................................................... How's this for later? It's now Monday, going on 10am. It was all I could do last night, after coming back from eating, to just lay on the bed and work the television clicker.]

We'd almost run out of options. A restaurant with the kind of enticing name of Old Chicago presented itself, but - upon closer inspection - turned out to be a "pasta and pizza" place .. .. not a very likely candidate, eh what?

But, Beth being the "leave no stone unturned" person that she is, said, "Wait here. I'll go in and see what they have." She came out just a couple of minutes later with a grin on her face and said, "I think they might be able to help us."

Sure enough! They had something on their menu that described a whole apple with cinnamon, surrounded by a crust of some sort, baked and then drizzled over with caramel and strawberry sauces. We asked if they had ice cream. They did. We decided to split an order .. .. cut one in half, hold the caramel and strawberry, and top it off with vanilla ice cream.

My word, you never saw food disappear so fast! To say it was delicious simply doesn't do it justice!! The waiter came back to see how we were doing. I told him that Beth had accidentally dropped hers on the floor (I was just finishing mine), and that we'd like to have another. He was very pleased and took off with our order.

That'll be my last stop at an Old Chicago for who knows how long? There are two locations in Pennsylvania (plus a couple in Michigan), but they're nowhere near where I'll be traveling, and none at all (!) in New York, New Hampshire, Maine, or Vermont. :(

[I'll be traveling to Ann Arbor later today. Jennie tells me she thinks there are two restaurant locations there that might be able to come close to what we enjoyed at Old Chicago. I'll report back later. After I check out of here in another hour or so, I'll stop by the Worthington Inn (just down the street, as it turns out) for brunch. Many years ago, when we lived here in Columbus, we spent many a Sunday there after church, where our daughter enjoyed 'all she could eat' for a quarter. I was delighted to discover they were still in business.]

If any of you get anywhere close to an Old Chicago and that dessert sounds good to you, I highly recommend you try it .. without the caramel and strawberry, as we did (Those two additions really didn't sound very good to us.), and let me know what you think. It's listed on the menu as "apple _____ _____" (don't remember the exact title), but read the description. That should let you know you have the right item.

Along the Way .. #2

2010-06-27T12:00:00.003-05:00

My itinerary ...

I thought I should let all of you know what I think my schedule will look like for the rest of this trip.

To recap thus far, Beth and I arrived in Memphis Friday, June 18th (late afternoon) and had a really great visit with Butch. Part of that trip was written about in my last post, and you should expect a "part two" before this series has ended.

We drove to Louisville the following Monday, stayed overnite, and I drove Beth to the airport to catch her flight back to Houston before continuing on to Indianapolis by myself. From Indy went to Lafayette, where I stayed until Friday with Jacky, my long-timey friend. Then on to Columbus, Ohio.

Have decided to take an extra day here in Columbus to try and play catchup on some badly-needed sleep, get my e-mail correspondence all caught up, and publish some more about my trip on Goldenrod's thoughts.

I am happy to report that I am sleeping very well, e-mails are all finished, and I'm publishing again for the first time in six days. :)

Tomorrow, Monday, I'll drive to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Jennie and I will catch an actual eyeball on each other for the very first time. Am looking forward to that!

Tuesday I'll be going back down south (might or might not decide to take a little jog over to Jackson first to see one of my college roommates) .. .. this time near Canton, Ohio, where I'll be staying overnight. Have a 'live' duplicate bridge game scheduled for the afternoon of the 30th. That evening (Wednesday) I'll be picking Beth up at the airport in Akron, where she'll be rejoining me for the rest of the trip to New Hampshire. At least, that's what I think will be happening!

Long story there. Long stories everywhere, actually, a few of which I'm hoping to publish before I get on my way again tomorrow.

Anyway, there you have it, the gist of my trip. Target date for a New Hampshire arrival is either late July 2nd (preferable) or mid-afternoon on the 3rd. More details coming. Many more!

Along the Way .. #1

2010-06-21T10:45:00.010-05:00

In Memphis ... part one ...

Beth and I arrived here around 5pm Friday night ... 650+ miles put on the car altogether, which includes running all over the east side of Memphis to try and find Butch, eat supper and locate a motel. Turns out we wouldn't be staying with Butch for reasons I'd just as soon not broadcast all over the blogosphere.

It was wonderful to see him! We'd been quite worried about the state of his health and were anxious to get up here personally to ascertain for ourselves his present condition and ask pointed questions to his face that couldn't be easily dodged.

We were greatly relieved when we first saw him. He didn't appear as tho he'd been ill at all. On the other hand, as the three of us spent more time together the next couple of days and we saw the actual living conditions in his apartment, other - unanticipated and more immediate - questions arose.

We felt he was being less than forthright with his doctor, and we both - separately as well as acting together as one person - talked candidly and openly with him about our concerns ... me as a former lover and proposed marriage partner from years ago and one who still cared very much about him as a person of worth, and Beth as his loving sister. Beth even took it upon herself to fully inform Butch's daughter Kelly, who is a nurse, of his living conditions. Kelly had been, at best, only vaguely aware of the problem.

Anyway, we're hoping that Butch will act positively on his own behalf. He seemed to take whatall we had to say in a constructive manner. He knows we love him.

Saturday, after sleeping in, changing motels and obtaining Internet service, we picked Butch up and took just a great tour of the 'midtown' area of Memphis. When I visited with Butch here 10 years ago, it was mid-winter and too cold to do much else other than stay inside where it was warm.

Boy, does Memphis ever have some lovely neighborhoods! Mile after mile after mile of them. We spent a couple of pleasurable hours treating ourselves to the sight of attractive houses and well-manicured lawns that complemented their sites beautifully. Lots of churches. I wonder if Memphis has zoning laws? I'm guessing they do.

One terribly depressed area we drove through included the surrounding areas of Graceland, where Elvis Presley had lived. Beth had taken the tour of his home, I think, when she came through here years ago, but I hadn't been interested in doing that when I was here visiting. (Butch took me on a 'virtual tour' of the property on his computer when I was here back then, but I wasn't interested in doing more than that at the time.) This time, however, I at least wanted to drive by the place.

My goodness, the monies that must have to be spent just keeping the place up and trying to make sure intruders and potentially-destructive persons don't get in! I could only get a brief glimpse of the house, but just the grounds themselves were breath-taking.

From Graceland, we headed downtown. We were scheduled to depart on a dinner cruise at 7pm from a Mississippi waterfront location, and wanted to make sure - even tho the cruise wasn't scheduled for another hour and a half or so - we had our bearings straight.

Along the way, we spent more than just a few minutes trying to circle by car the extensive grounds and buildings of St. Jude Hospital. Impossible! Some pretty hefty security there, which I found a little surprising. Have you ever seen that campus? Most impressive!

Then we crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas. We wanted to see what the river looked like from over there. Well, what the river looks like from the Arkansas side is a little like the Florida swamps. Do you remember one of Burt Reynolds' movies? Like that. Interesting!

We found that out only later, tho, as we were on our dinner cruise. That was nice! Well, all except for having to walk up a flight of stairs to get our seating assignments only to learn just ten steps later that we had to navigate another set of stairs back down again! It made no sense at all to me, and I expressed my distress most succinctly to the powers that be.

In their efforts to try and make my cruise more enjoyable, I was served the buffet at my table rather than having to navigate the stairs up and down again - first to get the buffet, and second to bring it down to our table. It was a good one, too! Barbecued pork, marinated chicken, beans, corn, cole slaw and Mississippi mud cake, which I imagine was of a souffle-like texture (Don't know for sure. Have never had souffles, only heard about them!) .. .. very light and kind of melted in my mouth. I ate only a little bit of it, tho. Most desserts aren't really on my list of preferred things to order.

[Speaking of desserts, Beth and I stopped to eat on the way to Memphis Friday at a restaurant in Arkadelphia called "The Barn". I often have trouble ordering food these days. I don't eat that much anymore, and when you're traveling like we are, there's no way the uneaten food will not just be wasted. Especially in this heat! I thought Beth was coming to my rescue when she offered to share what I wanted to order .. .. a hamburger with onions, cheese, lettuce and a side order of either french fries, onion rings or a combination of both. That was a perfect solution! The hamburger was delicious, Beth enjoyed her onion rings and I my fries. I found out only after we had arrived here in Memphis that she'd had an ulterior motive. She had spied a dessert she thought she'd like to order, but didn't think she'd have enough room left in her tummy after she'd eaten her entree. Turns out she still didn't have enough room! LOL]

After we'd all finished eating, Butch and I walked around a bit on the bottom deck and enjoyed the scenery. Beth went all over the place with her digital camera, looking for photographic opportunities. It was a gorgeous evening, nice and clear, with a breeze blowing just enough to help cool things off. There was even a half moon visible in the early evening sky.

To add frosting to an almost perfect cruise cake, the captain made the smoothest landing imaginable between two other ships back at the dock, easily navigating the narrow slot. After dropping Butch off at his apartment, we found ourselves back at our hotel by 10:30 and kind of fell onto our pillows .. .. me doing my thing an hour or so later by getting up again. :( I'm not getting nearly enough sleep .. .. mainly fits and starts!

Eventually, I walked across the street to a Waffle House - around 2 or 2:30 in the morning, I would guess - and had some breakfast (I seem to be eating just a little more these days) .. .. scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, hash browns, toast and hot chocolate. The bacon, eggs and toast were good (I brought a couple of pieces of bacon back to the room to eat later), the hash browns had kind of a peculiar taste (I left them) and the hot chocolate was one of these packaged mixes, but it was all hot and hit the spot in my tummy.

Yesterday, Sunday, we picked up Butch and drove on down to Horn Lake, Mississippi, the site of the ACBL's new headquarters. Why Mississippi? Why not stay in Tennessee? Don't know. ANYway, their one-story building is located out in the country a little bit and the surroundings are quite lovely. They've only been there a couple of months, but there's been talk of adding a fountain to the retention pond nearby. We weren't ----------------------------------------------------------

Sorry, guys. Was wanting to finish this post this morning and publish it, but have decided to hit publish and have this be "part one" ... ... maybe, if I'm a very good girl and my boss (Beth) decides to let me work on my blog after we reach Louisville later today, you'll see a 'part two'.

There's a whole lot more to say about our stay in Memphis, but I've run out of the time I need to write it. It's my birthday, too! Wouldn't you think I could be babied and have my way all day long, just for today? Geez!

Later, gators!

I know that it's been a while ...

2010-06-16T15:20:00.000-05:00

... since I last posted, but truly, folks, there hasn't been the time. Lots and lots of things I've wanted to tell you, but it always takes me a while to write these and I didn't want to stint on one just to get it out there.

The movers are coming early tomorrow to pack me all up and load me .. .. well, not "me", but you know what I mean, I think. (?) I'm not ready. (So what else is new, Goldenrod?) I have the awful feeling that I'll wind up in the wee hours of tomorrow morning making last minute decisions that might later turn out to have nightmarish consequences.

There isn't time right now, either, but I felt I just had to publish this to let you all know the latest ... ...

[Sorry about the little break there. Just realized I have some more loads of washing and drying that must be done before tomorrow - and yes, the washer and dryer are going to New Hampshire - and so, went out to the utility room and started a load.]

... ... and to tell you that - basically - I'm ok. Really! Tired, ornery, sometimes depressed and "frozen" at the thought of whatall still has to be done, but overall ready to leave this house. It's time ... nearly 40 years in one place is plenty, wouldn't you agree?

Beth and I will be leaving early Friday am from her place in Pearland and heading towards Memphis, where Butch lives. (Butch is Beth's brother.) We're hoping to get there by late afternoon or early evening so we can all have dinner together.

After a day and a half - or so - visiting with Butch, we'll head on up to Louisville, Kentucky on Monday (my 73rd birthday), which is a change in our original plans. Won't be going to Cincinnati after all.

Beth will fly back to Houston from Louisville on Tuesday and I'll continue on alone to Indianapolis, where I'll be having lunch with (and meeting face to face for the very first time!) Marty - one of my "friends" from BridgeBaseOnline - and his wife, Lana. Doesn't that sound super neat? I'm looking forward to it.

Then I'll be at Jacky's, my long-time friend who lives near West Lafayette, where I'm hoping to spend more than just a day or two. I promise I'll try to behave myself, be polite and not make rude noises or emit foul odors while at the dinner table. I wouldn't want to be evicted early! LOL

Jacky has Internet access .. so does Butch, but we won't be there long enough, I don't think, for me to spend any great amount of time on the computer .. ... you might kind of look for another post by me - from Jacky's place - next week.

Gotta go! I started this post a little over an hour ago. (See how long one of these takes me?) Time's a-flitting. My car is in the garage right now, getting some preventive maintenance work done, some of which is more than just a little expen$ive. They'll be calling me in another 2-3 hours. I'll miss Micky, the shop owner. (One of many people I'll miss when I leave Houston!)

Later, gators!

My kingdom for a good dohnut

2010-06-05T11:04:00.004-05:00

I intended to stop by Shipley's to pick up a couple of my favorites - glazed - before arriving at the Bridge Studio yesterday morning to have a makeup game with Roop Prasad, my regular mentee for the past year on Wednesday mornings (2nd Wednesday of each month), but didn't have enough time. It's just as well, tho, because some kind soul had brought in a bunch of them to share with all of us!

For the past 35+ years, I've been kind of basking in the luxury of having a Shipley's dohnuts shop - well, in fact, several! - here in Houston. They're a local chain, with over 220 locations in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Yep, you read that right. Nothing in New Hampshire. Oh, unhappy day!

What seems to be most prevalent in New Hampshire is Dunkin' Donuts ... at one point in my visit there last week, I counted three (3!) of their stores within a half mile radius. I'll give them credit for serving a great cup of hot chocolate, but you can have the rest of their offerings. Ugh! Just not to my taste.

However, I did notice several "bakery and cafe" or "bakery and restaurant" signs in the area. Will have to investigate some of those and let you know what I discover. Hopefully, one of them will have dohnuts more to my liking and be located not too far from where I'll be living. I like them nice and soft and fresh, so I only buy two or three at a time.

Moulton's Market, located just off the Village Green in Amherst, offers a little bit of this and a little bit of that. We (daughter, son-in-law and myself) were there a couple of times last week, mainly to pick up sandwiches and soft drinks to go.

On our last day there, I noticed they had homemade soups - chili and vegetable. I smelled them both. Delicious! Their deli menu changes daily, but count on me to report back on the soups, in particular. That's one item that reheats very well in the microwave. And yes, I'll have a microwave.

Getting back to yesterday, I was more than just a little surprised when Roop presented me with a parting gift ... a 100% cashmere scarf, a tartan pattern in shades of brown and made in Scotland. (Guess she'd forgotten we were also scheduled to play in the mentor/mentee game this coming Wednesday morning.) So soft! You just wouldn't believe the softness of this scarf.

I proudly wore it around my neck the rest of our game and intend to sport it again this coming Wednesday. Thank you, Roop, for your beautiful and most thoughtful gift.

Do you remember Mike Royko?

2010-05-31T14:30:00.001-05:00

Award-winning newspaper columnist? I hadn't thought about him in years until earlier today, when cleaning out one of the file cabinets that won't be making the move, I came across an article written by him at least twenty years ago, maybe twenty-five.

I think it's really funny and I'm going to copy it nearly verbatim. Mike is interviewing a "Dr. Chernal", past chairman of the President's Commission for the Shrinking Buck and a consultant to numerous financial institutions. Hope it tickles your funny bone almost as much as it did mine!

What Wall Street needs right now is a good slapper

Q: Dr. Chernal, many experts say that panic and hysteria are among the major reasons for the stock market collapse. Do you agree?
A: Oh, yes. Panic and hysteria are very bad. Upset the stomach. Bad for the digestion. Give you heartburn and gas. I caution against them.
Q: Yes, but what can be done to prevent them?
A: Don't eat that deli food. You ever see what they eat on Wall Street? Greasy pastrami, corned beef, salty pickles. They swallow without chewing. No wonder they have heartburn. They should eat yogurt.

Q: No, I meant what measures can be taken to reduce the panic and hysteria?
A: Oh, that. Well, the first thing they should do is hire slappers.
Q: Slappers? What are slappers?
A: What's the matter, don't you ever watch old movies?
Q: Sure, but what has that got to do with it?
A: So, in the movies, what happens when a person gets hysterical?
Q: Somebody slaps them?
A: Right. It always snaps them out of it, calms them down, makes them stop screaming.

Q: So this is what you recommend for Wall Street?
A: Sure. They could hire a few hundred big bruisers just to cruise around the Stock Exchange, the trading pits and all those other places where people are too nervous. If they see somebody getting hysterical, they go over and give 'em a slap or two.
Q: Do you really think that would help?
A: Maybe. Maybe not.
Q: That's not a very definitive answer.
A: That shows you know little about economics. "Maybe, maybe not" is one of the foundations of economic thought. I know guys who got to be professors at Harvard just by saying, "maybe, maybe not."

Q: I didn't know that. Now for another question. With the market so depressed, many people are wondering where they should put their money so it is safe.
A: Good question. I recommend emptying out a couple of boxes of frozen dinners, putting your money in the empty boxes and sticking them in the freezer compartment of your refrigerator.
Q: But why?
A: Because my brother-in-law is a cop and he says that the average burglar doesn't look in the freezer. And even if he is hungry, he wouldn't eat that kind of stuff anyway. So your money is safe there.

Q: But I was talking about putting money in safe investments.
A: Oh, investments. Don't bother. Spend it, go be a good-time Charlie, whoop it up.
Q: That doesn't sound very prudent. What about planning for the future?
A: The future? How do you know what the future is going to be? You ever seen it? Have you been there?
Q: I suppose I haven't.
A: That's right. So let's say you are careful and you save your money for the future. Then one day you swallow a bad oyster, you get a fever, the preacher comes and mumbles over you, and the undertaker hauls you away. So, what happens to all that money you've been investing?
Q: It goes to my widow and my children?
A: Right. And what does your widow do? She'll probably head for Florida, dye her hair blue, take dancing lessons from some skinny young guy with a moustache and pointy shoes, and they'll go out on the town and spend your money drinking banana daiquiris. And your kids will grab their share and buy new cars, CD players and go to a Club Med. So don't be a stiff. My advice is to have a good time while you got it. Buy a hair piece. It'll take your mind off the Dow Jones.

Q: But many people would like to invest their money so it shows a reasonable return. What should they do?
A: OK, then stash it away where it'll get a little interest. Then wait and see if there is going to be a terrible depression. And if there is, and everybody is going broke, you will be in position to do something for your friends.
Q: You mean to help them?
A: No. You see if they have anything that's worth buying and you offer them 10 cents on the dollar.
Q: But that's taking cruel advantage of the helpless to enrich yourself.
A: See? You're learning. You want to join my firm?

What can be said?

2010-05-31T10:55:00.003-05:00

My dear friend, Jacky, is on her way back home to Indiana after attending a long-timey friend's funeral in North Carolina. She says that she and her husband are taking their time on the return drive.

Good! They probably need the time to be silent and reflect on individual memories of their friend, but also to communicate and share with each other what he meant to them both.

When I first got the notice of his passing, I made no response to Jacky. It wasn't that I felt nothing. No, I felt something, but what could I have said?

There are no words adequate to convey what one feels at a time like this, no words of consolation ... nothing, really, other than the common platitudes uttered in frustration by so many.

I've spent many hours these past couple of weeks going through years of accumulated "crapola" in my townhouse .. have decided to just face it and tell it like it is .. well, not really crapola, but most of it meaningless to anyone other than myself.

So many memories. Jacky and her husband will always have those memories - both individual and jointly of their friend - and so he will remain forever in their hearts.

I am glad they went to his funeral, but I am sorry for their loss. It doesn't matter if their friend, towards the very end, had no quality of life and no chance for recovery. He was still their friend and they didn't want to have to say goodbye.

I understand. I weep for them. I empathize in their feelings of loss. I love you, Jacky, and my arms enfold you.

Back home

2010-05-28T14:30:00.008-05:00

I won't be able to say "home" again in another three weeks - exactly three weeks from today, as a matter of fact - will I? It'll seem strange, probably, to leave Houston after so many years of living in one place.

[Took a little break there and started a future post, "What I'll miss about Houston". It probably won't happen again with this one, but I just had to stop and begin writing it. There were a couple of things on my mind that I wanted to say before I forgot how important they were to me. Have you ever had that happen to you?]

Anyway, I arrived safely back in my townhouse somewhere between 9:30 and 10 last night. Boy, I was one tired puppy, I'll tell you that! (Two full, jam-packed days in New England, some of which you've already read about.) Our day began early yesterday, with breakfast and checking out of the motel, before heading on over to my daughter's and her husband's new house - and yes! all was finalized and properly notarized (late, but officially signed, sealed and delivered the evening before!) .. by 8am to meet with the contractor and go over the plans for "my apartment", among other things.

I hadn't wanted to get up. After our meal out the night before, I had literally "fallen" into bed back at the motel, but then had trouble staying asleep. Too much on my mind, I guess. Lots and lots of stress early on in the trip. Most of the irritating things that were happening did not really have a direct bearing on me, but I was right there while it was all happening and it was difficult not to internalize some of it.

What was directly related to me was that Wednesday, as I was spending six or so hours at the motel napping, writing my last post and catching up on e-mails, I kept having this memory of giving my son-in-law both my sets of car keys and house keys at the airport here in Houston on Tuesday before going through security. My mind clearly remembered him dropping the keys into his carry-on bag. I was concerned that I would arrive back in Houston with no keys whatsoever. Yowsers!

I left him a note to that effect. He responded by saying that I hadn't given him two sets of keys .. only one, and he had dropped those into my new computer bag. (Prior to that, I'd placed the computer in my 'to be checked in' suitcase.) And, to prove his point, when we got back from dinner, he searched through my bag and found just the one set .. the car keys. Well, jeez!

What was happening with my mind? What was I doing to myself? Particularly after the broken bed slat story, which you don't know yet because I haven't told you (And it's funny!), I was starting to get more than just a little concerned.

He reassured me that I just had a lot on my mind, that I was inadvertently juxtaposing imagined events onto actual ones. I shouldn't be worried, he said. And so, I finally decided that it was ridiculous for me to think I would not have left the house keys in the car - as I always do! - and given him just the one set of keys, the car keys. So, I drifted back into a fitful sleep.

Later on in that long and nearly sleepless night, I got up and searched through my computer bag. You'll never guess what I found. ... ... You guessed it - both sets of keys - car and house! Ye gods!!

Moving on with yesterday ... ... we drove out to their new house in broad daylight and much cooler temperatures (More about temperature extremes in NH in a later post. They set records throughout New England Wednesday. Think they were almost 10 degrees warmer there - 97 or 98 degrees, depending on your news source - than in Houston! LOL). That's gorgeous countryside, folks, btw, absolutely gorgeous! (Again, another post on down the line. Hopefully, one accompanied by gloriously-illustrative photographs.)

Before we left their house to drive into Boston to catch my late afternoon flight, which was scheduled to depart at 4:55 pm Boston time (boarding at 4:20), I was given the old grill routine as to where my keys were. Well, as far as I knew, they were in my computer bag, safely ensconced in one of the many zippered compartments where I had placed them several hours before. I wasn't about to walk out to their rented car and unzip everything just to make sure they were still there. Would you have? I mean, I knew they were there, right? Right.

And so, off we went. I took a little nap in the car on the way and then, Bingo, we were there! John (s-i-l) got out of the car with me and escorted me inside while my daughter went to wait in a nearby cell phone lot, pushing my wheelchair* up to the checkin counter, where we said our goodbyes after he was assured that I would have a wheelchair escort all the way through security (he wasn't allowed to accompany me) and to the bar, where I fully intended to have a great hand-made margarita while waiting for my boarding call an hour or hour and a half or so later. Sounded good to me!

*I realize that most of you do not know about this latest glitch in Goldenrod's life. Not something you need to lose any sleep over or be overly concerned about, but I simply no longer have the strength to walk very far. More later, no doubt, if and when, but we'll just talk about my trip this time around, if that's ok with you.

There was only one little snag, as I saw it. The fellow who came to 'escort' me was the same one who had left us absolutely high and dry in that same airport just outside of the passenger loading ramp two days before. (Told us at that time we had to take seats in the waiting area, that the wheelchair was needed for other purposes. He was unable to take us on down to the baggage claim area, he said. Dear me! It was along about that time, also, that John received his first "Something appears to be wrong with the closing" message, and so the next - perhaps more than a half hour or so went by with John whispering into his cell phone and frantically sending out and receiving text messages to try and find out what the devil had gone wrong.) Anyhoo, this was the same fellow.

I was leery of continuing on with this inept, but probably well-meaning, fellow. However, he got me to the bar ok .. and, after I checked with one of the serving staff and found out that I would indeed be able to acquire a good margarita, he deposited me there and left (after assuring me that he had ordered a wheelchair to pick me back up at the bar at 4:10 .. plenty of time to get to the gate and be one of the first of the early "VIP" boarders on the aircraft). Sounds good, right?

It was a good margarita and I enjoyed every sip of it! Had a really nice visit with another passenger who was waiting for his continuing direct flight on to Portland, OR. He lives there, but has to come back to Boston about once a month on business. (My son-in-law will be facing the same type of thing once they relocate to the northeast.)

As 4:10 approached, I kept eyeing the front door for the 'so-ordered' wheelchair. None appeared. I paid my tab, told the bartender that I was going to start walking outside, that I was expecting a wheelchair at any moment, but would she check to make sure one had been ordered? Long story short, none had been (Of course not! Could we possibly have expected anything else/more from this person??), but it didn't take very long at all for one to arrive and I got to the gate right at 4:20, the announced boarding time.

I was extremely pleased with the whole situation, until I was told that we wouldn't be boarding just then. Oh, my! Now what to do? I certainly didn't want my 'replacement' wheelchair person to have to wait there until early boarding was finally announced. Would you? Oh, my! But then we were told by one of the people behind the counter to just wheel my chair back (away from the counter, but in plain sight) and I would be taken care of as soon as possible. I didn't have really good feelings about this, but didn't know what else could be done. I acquiesced.

Many, many minutes later (more than 30), the fellow who had said to wheel the chair back away from the counter came out to get me and wheeled me onto the plane himself! My goodness!! I was first on!!! (But then, of course, had to wait another thirty minutes - or so - for everyone else to get on and stash their carry-ons, but what an experience. I felt really special!)

The trip back to Houston was interesting. (We took off from Boston 37 minutes late, but landed in Houston only 12 minutes after the original ETA. Have no earthly idea how the pilot could possibly have made up all that time! A really smooth flight, and an exceptionally smooth landing.)

I had the fortunate opportunity to be seated next to a young lady who is a speech therapist. She'd been in the Boston area, visiting with her father and mother. Her mother has Alzheimer's. Hideous disease! The mother is only a year older than I am. The gal I was sitting next to visits as often as she can. Her father - same age as the mother - takes care of her ... does all of the cooking, cleaning, yardwork, etc. They've been married for over fifty years and he is 100% dedicated to his wife's health and well-being. I simply cannot imagine such a lifelong and sustaining love. Wonderful!

I checked with the head stewardess, as we were in the final phase of our descent into Houston, to make sure a wheelchair had been ordered for me upon our arrival. She assured me that one had. My traveling companion accompanied me to the front of first class, carrying my computer bag, where I stopped off to use the ladies' room. I was then directed to wait in the front seat. I did.

Very shortly after the last ambulatory passenger deplaned, my wheelchair arrived. I got on and was quickly driven to one of those moving cart-type thingees. Next thing I knew, we were all deposited at the top of an escalator to go down to the baggage claim area. Well, I took one look at that escalator and was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to make it .. not while carrying that heavy computer bag. I was very much afraid of losing my balance.

I asked the driver if he could possibly take me down to baggage claim. Well, no he couldn't, he said, but he'd get me to someone who could! And so, the next few moments were spent wheeling madly around that floor - him talking on his cell phone the whole time. It was kind of funny, actually!

We stopped and made a u-turn next to someone he knew .. she loaded me onto a wheelchair, and away we went. When we got down to baggage claim, she asked me what color my bag was. I told her 'yellow'. (I'm a fossil, what can I tell you?) As soon as she disappeared around the corner to look for it closer to the front, I saw it. One of my fellow passengers grabbed it for me and hailed my fast disappearing escort. She came back and off we went to the outside area where buses were waiting to take arriving passengers to where they'd left their cars in a long-term parking area. She butted the line, got me loaded and disappeared almost as quickly as she'd arrived.

I had no chance whatsoever to give her a well-deserved tip. Same thing with my first two drivers. Just the darndest thing! I wouldn't have believed such a thing could happen had it not happened to me.

Anyway, I'm back, safe and sound. Have just a ton of things to do, not the least of which is get on up to Farmer's, where Larry Gray is no doubt waiting for half of my homeowner's insurance - due Sunday (Of course! Don't all of these due dates fall either on a weekend or a holiday?). More later!

Greetings from New Hampshire!

2010-05-26T16:40:00.004-05:00

And yes, this is my computer. So, evidently I'll be able to post now and then from various locations that have Internet access on my trip in June.

I'm sitting in a Residence Inn by Marriott in the little community of Merrimac, New Hampshire, waiting for my daughter and son-in-law to return from a very delayed closing of their new home .. .. all due to a grievous error in writing the contract by either the bank or title company.

It doesn't really matter who made the error. The fact is that it was made and, until it is corrected, all parties involved are just sitting around on their duffs waiting for a "Go!" sign.

My son-in-law was greeted with a "Something appears to be wrong with the closing" message on his phone when we got off the plane in Boston early yesterday evening. It was not the beginning nor the ending of yesterday's problems, but was certainly the most stress-producing. I've been trying to send positive thoughts their way all afternoon and keep hoping this can get done toDAY!

Meanwhile, the three of us enjoyed quite a hearty breakfast this morning in the lobby of the hotel. My goodness, what a spread! In addition to the 'might be expected' toast, juice and coffee, there were all sorts of breads (bagels, French toast, regular bread and a toaster to use if you were so inclined, English muffins, regular muffins), waffles (!), sausage, scrambled eggs and fresh fruit, just to name only some of whatall I remember they had to offer. Can you believe it?

They offer a complimentary dinner, too, but we have plans to go out to one of their favorite restaurants to have quiche .. (Haven't had that in years! Not since the old Pecan Street Cafe in Austin.) .. and soup. I might decide just to order the quiche and forego the soup. Still have almost half a sandwich left from lunch.

Yes, we stopped for a quick bite to go for ourselves after doing some delightful sightseeing around Amherst, where we'll be living. Then, as "luck" would have it, on the way back to the motel to eat, we happened across a pretty bad accident that had traffic backed up for miles (no exaggeration) .. .. an absolute incompetent in charge, wouldn't you just know it? :( Anyway, they just dropped me off at the motel and made a u-turn back towards their new house. No longer had the luxury of time to eat with me. Had to find another route back. A final walkthrough of the place had been scheduled to take place less than the amount of time later than they had due to that terrible traffic tieup.

The closing was supposed to be at 3:00 NH time, and my daughter just now called - it's going on 5:30 here to tell me the closing had just begun. They really don't need her at it, she said, so she's coming back to the motel to get me. Then, we'll do a round tripper to retrieve my son-in-law from wherever the closing has been taking place, and off we'll go to get some quiche and whatever. (Had to put what remained of my half-eaten sandwich back in the refrigerator. Got hungry and couldn't wait any longer, but now that I know she's on her way I had to put it back. LOL )

Kind of an interesting tidbit for you ... ... on one of my trips outside today to have a smoke (I think all Marriott Hotels - at least those in the United States - are non-smoking these days.), I happened to notice a little bird building a nest in what looks like an outdoor light in the next building. They're industrious little critters! I should probably tell management about it. Doubt if they want bird's nests in that opening. Yeah, yeah I know .. I'm a party pooper.

Hope all y'all are doin' ok wherever you are. Think the temperature here is higher than Houston's. Later!

The latest installment

2010-05-24T07:15:00.006-05:00

This post was begun yesterday afternoon. I had gotten down to the phrase in bold when I received an unexpected phone call that stopped me dead in my tracks - mid-sentence, as a matter of fact (hadn't placed the period yet) - and made me hightail it on out of here. What you'll read next is the post as it was begun. I'll tell you what the phone call was all about towards the end.

Boy, I want to tell ya, folks, that was some week and it's not over yet!

Friday came and went about as predicted. Friday night I slept many more hours than I'd anticipated and I didn't get to the store that evening as I had originally planned. Beth et al were due to come over yesterday, and she'd asked that I have some cold water and Gatorade ready for them. Well, it wasn't cold. In fact, I had just returned from shopping when they arrived yesterday morning.

Why were they here? They were here to pack up, load and take down to Pearland any furniture and extraneous items I wouldn't be taking to New Hampshire and that I thought was of somewhat better quality than the "liquidators" should have at their disposal.

I knew there would be a bunch of stuff, but I really hadn't a clue how enormous that pile would turn out to be. Also, there were things I didn't mention to Beth before they got here .. the Conn electric organ, for one, because I thought it would be a 'throw away' item - all of its guts need to be reworked. However, Beth wants to put it on Craig's list. Thinks she can get some good money for it. "There are people out there," she says, "who enjoy rebuilding instruments. Besides, the wood is beautiful and in excellent condition." She only wished she had brought her digital camera with her so she could have taken a picture. I don't know how they're going to lift it and get it out to the trailer! The Danish dresser and sofa are heavy, too, but not nearly so much as that organ.

[Eureka! I have just located a couple of photographs I saved from when the organ was at my folks' house in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Isn't that great? I'll take them out to Katy with me tonight. See if my daughter or son-in-law can scan them and then send cc. to both Beth and me. Wunderbar!]

Here's a photo of what the organ looked like when it had its Munising home ... ...

Don't know what that light source is. It was in the photograph that my son-in-law scanned.

And I thought you might get a kick out of seeing this shot .. same location .. that's me playing the organ ... ...

They arrived in Beth's little car and a few hours later had packed all of the boxes they had brought with them .. only a fraction of what was needed, which turned out to be ok because Dianne, Beth's sister, couldn't come over with her truck and trailer, anyway. Dianne's 'on call' at the post office six days a week and had been at work ever since 7:30 yesterday morning, sorting the mail to be delivered on her route. When Beth and she spoke on the phone around 4:30 or so, Dianne was just starting out on her route! She was going to be one tired camper, wasn't she?

SO, Beth et al loaded what they could fit into Beth's little car and off they went. The very large hand-crocheted bedspread went in the back seat with Cassie, Beth's grandniece. We figured she'd have a nice soft headrest for the trip back to Pearland in case she wanted to take a little nap. They had made quite a dent in the stuff I'm not taking. Packed many more dishes and glassware than I'd originally thought they might like to have to offer in a garage/yard sale and there are a few glaringly empty shelves. There are more dishes and glassware to be packed up, however, and they have yet to start on things that had been set aside for Beth in the master bedroom, including a slide projector, sorting table and viewing screen. Also, there's a hall closet just full of Christmas items for them to cull through, in addition to grabbing the rest of what they want from the office closet .. tennis racket, knitting bags, craft items, etc. Just a slew of stuff!

Our plan, as of last night when they left, was to have the whole troupe return a week from today (after church) .. Dianne's not on call on Sundays .. with many more boxes, a truck and trailer, and make every attempt to pack and load everything they weren't able to take yesterday. Don't know how that shakes out with Dianne. Will know more this evening when I see Beth and Sabrina (Beth's niece .. Dianne's daughter) out in Katy.

That's where my artwork is being stored, from when I was in the art and accessorizing business. I had mentioned it to Beth, but didn't anticipate her taking me up on it. However, she'd already talked about it to someone in her office, who is interested in the prints. A hundred or so prints, probably, many limited editions, and some framed art. I'll go out to Katy early to try and list the limited editions they might be taking, give them whatever provenance I have for the better pieces, and then work up a pricing list for them, which I'll e-mail to Beth later. Also, I found a receipt book that I gave to Beth. This just in case someone wants a receipt. I was thinking about the artwork, in particular, here.

Whew! What a ton of work!! What a ton of stuff!!! None of it will I miss!!!! I have been over and over it all so many times, I feel as tho enough memories have been recalled and words said over it that I'm ready to let it go bye-bye.

They're planning to have one of the world's more gigantic garage/yard sales down there in Pearland in two weeks. (That's quick, isn't it??) After seeing the huge quantity of items they would be offering, Beth and Sabrina (her niece) were concerned about having enough tables to display everything. They'll be getting two of my card tables, but those will be nowhere near enough to display everything. Perhaps they'll decide to hold two garage/yard sales? Don't know. Not my decision. I thought sure that Beth would wait until she got back from our trip to do this, but no, they're planning on going boom, boom, boom with it!

They're going to "do it up right", Beth said, with popcorn and lemonade. My goodness! Excites me just to think about it and exhausts me all at the same time. I told them I DEfinitely want to have pictures of the big event! I'll be sure to post one or two on "Goldenrod's thoughts" later.

There probably won't be another update in the ongoing saga of "Goldenrod's move" until after I get back from New Hampshire. My daughter, son-in-law and myself are flying up there Tuesday - it'll be my first time seeing their new home and the surrounding countryside, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Continuing on with this post. It's now Monday morning.

There is what is called a "walkout basement" in their new home - sliding glass doors lead outside - that they're planning on remodeling for me .. my own apartment, as it were. We'll be meeting with the contractor either Wednesday or Thursday to discuss plans, what will work and what won't, color schemes, etc. My son-in-law tells me the contractor is planning to put in a shower with a seat. That sounds interesting! Have you ever seen one of those? I haven't. Hope the contractor has a picture of one to show us.

I'll be back in Houston late Thursday evening, and will spend as much of Friday and Saturday as I'm able to continuing with my sorting, keeping and throwing away activities. I'll also be working up that price list for the art I talked about earlier. Beth needs that, along with whatever provenance I have for same. I could then give it to her in person next Sunday when they come .. and yes, they're coming! Will be here around 3pm or so .. or e-mail it later. Her choice.

What was the phone call all about? It was Sabrina, saying they wanted to leave for Katy from Pearland immediately .. about 3 1/2 hours earlier than planned. Ye gods! It was drop everything time. And so I did.

I discovered, upon arriving out there earlier than Beth and Sabrina, that 150 prints were completely missing from the inventory. (Not only were those missing, but my daughter and son-in-law cannot find several items they purchased from me a few years ago. They have to be in their house somewhere, but as of this writing they're among the lost. If they get found in the next two weeks - before the gigantic garage/yard sale scheduled at Beth's the weekend of June 5th - my daughter will make sure that Beth gets them.) Limited editions and original pieces really are not very good candidates for a garage sale. Well, some might be, but most are not.

Oh, well! Problems, problems, right? Nobody said it was going to be easy. Later!

Exhaustion sets in

2010-05-20T19:00:00.000-05:00

This has been the longest day yet.

John (son-in-law) came over this morning instead of my daughter, who has a whole bunch of other things going on in her life right now and really needed to take a day away from it. Initially, I thought this might not work out very well because only my daughter and I had been working on packing and sorting for three days straight and he was not personally familiar with what had been happening. I thought we might lose a lot of valuable time, which is in some scarcity right now.

[The movers are coming over tomorrow morning at 11am to give their estimates. I'm not due to actually be packed up and loaded by them for another four or five weeks - after Beth and I head out towards Nashville. They'll come here and pack me up first, then go directly out to Katy and load the rest of the truck with my daughter and her family's stuff before heading north and east towards New Hampshire. At least, that's the plan as of today. We hope that's what will be happening! LOL)

As it turned out, however, not a moment was lost. He didn't leave until 5:30 and it was almost nonstop talking, sorting, packing, bagging and trashing that whole time. What time did he get here? I don't know. Before 10:30, I'm pretty sure. Maybe before 10:00, because I'd been up for at least a couple of hours already working on stuff that required solitary thinking with no interruptions.

A long, long day. I'm thinking about going over to KFC - the closest one - and ordering their crispy (dark meat, thigh and leg) 2-pc. dinner to go with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. Wish me luck not falling asleep at the dinner table while eating it, ok?

I'll try and post another update tomorrow. We'll see. For sure, you should expect the next one in the ongoing "Goldenrod's move" breaking news story by Sunday.

Later!

News ... what's been happening with me?

2010-05-18T18:40:00.004-05:00

Well, there have been big changes going on in my life.

I guess the biggest news is that I will be leaving Houston - a month from today, actually! - and relocating to New Hampshire, where I will be re-joining my daughter and her family.

[They're still here and will be heading north a week (for one) and two weeks (for the others) after me. My daughter has been here every day so far this week - and the next three days will be more of the same - to help me sort through this gawdawful mess I created for myself .. .. over 30 years in the same place. I don't think you can even begin to imagine the mess. Seriously!]

I'm planning to drive - and, hopefully, visit with Butch (you might remember my mentioning him in some of my previous posts) in Memphis ... ... Beth (Butch's sister) is planning on making that trip with me, some 500+ miles. We'll spend a couple of days or so in Memphis and then drive together on over to Nashville, where she will fly back to Houston the next day - Monday, June 21st - my birthday. "Why Nashville?" you might well ask. $100 cheaper airfare is the answer. Those fares will drive you absolutely crazy if you let them, won't they?

We'll probably visit with Butch some more Sunday morning, then head on over to Nashville, where I'll be spending the night with Beth before continuing on my journey north.

From Nashville, I'll be traveling alone to Cincinnati, Ohio, where I'm hoping to have a face-to-face meeting with "Bug", one of the regular readers and commentors (my sp.) on this blog. I have something I want to give her. We'll probably talk a bunch about baseball. Right now her Reds are leading the National League's Central Division by one full game over the Cardinals. They just beat the Brewers, who have lost eight in a row. Go, Reds!

[The Brewers are the only team in our division that I could - albeit remotely - even suggest suck worse than my Astros, who have now lost four in a row .. this after a very brief (but certainly satisfying) stay in St. Louis.]

I won't give you the rest of my planned itinerary right now, but I thought you should know that I'm leaving Houston and going north.

As most of you know, I am not fond of the cold. Just the opposite, as a matter of fact. Many factors went into this decision and I'll disclose some of them in future posts. But for today, all you know for sure is that I'm "outa here"!

[In going through stack after stack of loose papers, I have found a lot of little tidbits I'd like to include in future "Goldenrod's thoughts". My next post, just for a little teaser, will have some "Dave Barryisms" in it. LOL]

Happy endings

2010-05-16T18:45:00.002-05:00

I love happy endings, don't you? I had occasion recently to watch two movies - one from the 1950's (Sayonara) and one from 2000 (Chocolat) - both of which had happy endings. I had forgotten that they did. That trait - forgetting the ending - was one my first husband found quite appealing. He always enjoyed taking me to the movies, even tho it might have been one I had seen a few times before. LOL

Between the two films, Academy Award nominations numbering close to twenty resulted. I have never been much of a Marlon Brando fan, but he is perfect in his role as a bigoted US Air Force major forced to relocate to post WWII Japan. The photography is exquisite and I highly recommend you renting this if you have never seen it before. In fact, you might want to allow enough time for two showings.

"Sayonara" is based on James Michener's novel - you can find an extensive writeup about it here. Racism and prejudice were highly evident in both the film and novel, but Michener's ending was very different. [This just to warn you ahead of time.]

"Chocolat", on the other hand, struck me (the first time I saw it) as a fantasy .. something unreal and from fairy tale land. When I saw the film again earlier today, I had the same impression. A delightfully impossible tale about a woman who arrives in town, opens a chocolate store during Lent, begins to influence a number of townspeople and is the source of a lot of suspicion and anger.

It is a happy and rare day when I can unequivocally recommend two films. This is such a day. Happy viewing!

Oh! Almost forgot to tell you where you can read a pretty decent writeup about the second film. Here it is, courtesy of Wiki again. :)

And so it continues

2010-05-04T12:30:00.008-05:00

Ho hum, seven in a row now. I told you, D'backs, that your fortunes would change. Three more, and then you'll have to face some real teams again. Aawww!

You know, I was just casually looking through the MLB standings this morning and a few things kind of jumped out at me ... ...

... The National League East, where all of the teams are hovering around the .500 mark and only three games separate first from last place.

... Really jumping out was a team that obviously needs our help in stopping their losing streak, which now stands at seven. When I checked to see who it was, however, I saw that it was the Astros. Oh, dear! How does one help one's self stop one's own losing streak?

... There are three teams in the American League, tho, who could use our help .. the Athletics, Angels and Mariners .. all from the American League West. Come to think of it, this division is even tighter than the Eastern division of the National League. Only two and a half games separate first from last place.

I wonder when we get to play some American League teams this year? Maybe we'll get a chance to help them out. Give me a sec here while I check the Astros schedule. Naah! We don't play any American League teams until June. Only one from the American League West, the Rangers .. a six-game series altogether, where we play for the Silver Boot. Plus one each from the American League Central (Royals) and East (Yankees). Unless I've missed something completely - and that's certainly possible! - we don't face just one division's teams in interleague play in 2010. I mean, we always play the Rangers for the Silver Boot in a six-game set each year, but I'm talking about the rest of interleague play. The rules must have changed and I was just not paying attention, right?

[Sorry, folks. Got terribly distracted in searching for my post on the Silver Boot. Going backwards through all of my sports posts, I came across this one and just had to watch Torvill and Dean's 1984 gold medal-winning ice dancing performance of Bolero again. I might even decide to watch it one more time before coming back to baseball. What an upper! My logical mind tells me there are two separate people skating out there, but my eyes say otherwise. They see only one - synchronized, fluid and beautiful to watch while the music plays in the background.]

OK, I'm back, still scrolling backwards through my sports posts. I saw another one with a name in it - Aram Tolegian - that brought back a few memories. I had forgotten that I'd talked about possibly keeping a record of what Aram said in his Power Rankings from week to week this year, starting from week one.

[When I first saw Aram's name last year, I was struck by the similarity between his name and Ara Parseghian's. Remember him? Notre Dame's football coach for many years?]

Well, that idea kind of fell by the wayside this year, because Aram is no longer doing the power rankings and comments. Some fellow named Dayn Perry is. Who's Dayn Perry? I haven't the vaguest idea, but I'm having some trouble making the adjustment to a different writer. And, if you've taken the time to look at the rankings this year, you probably have noticed a humongous disparity in them from week to week. Doesn't do much (for me) to add to his credibility.

Still scrolling. Have come across the name Chris Coste a couple of times. I wonder whatever happened to him? Well, I just googled his name and it looks like he's with the Washington Nationals right now. He's not having the professional baseball world's most distinguished career, but he's still around.

Still scrolling. Found it! "It" being my post on the Silver Boot.

Later, sports fans!

An exercise in screamility

2010-05-03T09:25:00.001-05:00

I watched the Astros play against the Braves Saturday on Channel 26, our local Fox affiliate.

I know, I know. I said in this post that they wouldn't be shown again on local television until August. Well, Fox decided to sneak a Saturday game in on me. It looks like they might have another one scheduled for the 15th against the Giants, too.

The Astros started out the season 0-8, but then won 8 out of the next 10 games, surprising everybody at first but little by little starting to get their fans' hopes up, at one very brief point even enjoying second place in the National League's Central division. Currently, tho, we're in the midst of another losing streak ... six games at this point.

Arizona is coming in for a four-game set beginning at Minute Maid Park this evening. They are on kind of a downward slide at present, but don't worry, Diamondbacks. Your fortunes are about to turn completely around. How much they'll turn around is anybody's guess, but I can't imagine us losing ten in a row, can you? How dreadful that would be!

I've been trying to think of words to describe this team. The best I can come up with is a kind of slogan ... "The turnaround kids" ... meaning, if you're on a losing streak, come and play the Astros. We'll turn that skid around for you! We did it for the Reds and then the Braves.

I want all of you to know, btw, that I watched every pitch of every inning Saturday. I wanted to have a visual of that game clearly in my mind. Actually, it was a pretty good game until the bottom of the fifth, when we made two costly errors, allowing the Braves to score three unearned runs. It went downhill from there ... a few mental errors, lack of timely hitting and a missed run-and-hit signal later, the final score was good guys 1, bad guys 10. Ugly!

"Screamility" = a combination of scream and futility. It wouldn't have been at all appropriate for frivolity to appear in this post. Those guys don't look like they're having any fun at all!

The "Forever" stamp ... part two

2010-04-29T12:45:00.002-05:00

Craig, in his comment to my first post on this stamp, asked if he could see a picture of it.

Well, here it is, Craig. I took it right off of the USPS website ... ...

This website, btw, has a lot of background info on this stamp.

I'll be responding to all comments on that first post later, after I've had a chance to check through my records and see what I actually DID pay for those initial stamps. My memory was thinking 44 cents, but I'll look it up .. should have the figures!

Meanwhile, it's a great-looking stamp, isn't it?

Cold feet

2010-04-28T11:45:00.004-05:00

Last night was a three-blanket night. I woke up in the wee morning hours not shivering exactly, but not toasty warm, either. I leaned over to get another blanket, spread it out over the two already there, and voila!

I guess it was about a month ago that I kept waking up with cold feet. Now those will eventually give way to cramps and I just can't let that happen. Then I have to get up and walk around until they go away. Plus, I can't return to bed too soon, or the cramps will come right back. A lose lose situation.

I've always been subject to having cold feet, particularly at night. I used to wear socks to bed, but they don't really do the trick. What does work are piles of blankets - encasing my lower extremities in a sort of warm cocoon - concentrated on the bottom portion of my body. What luxury!

My first husband, who always seemed to be nice and cozy warm, suggested one night that I place my feet on his tummy. Now that did the trick, too, but I can't imagine that there are too many husbands out there who would allow such a thing!

I have developed a new addiction ... ... corn on the cob from KFC. They serve it to go piping hot and with each piece tightly wrapped in tin foil. Oh, wow! I bring two pieces home, add butter and salt and pepper to taste a little bit at a time, and savor each morsel. I'll be going to get some more later this afternoon. I skipped yesterday.

Yesterday was Shipley's glazed dohnuts day. Hot out of the oven - 5 am, or thereabouts - they are absolutely unbeatable and just melt in your mouth! I'll buy three if I'm there that early. And no, I wasn't there at 5am. The shop I frequent is open 24 hours. Kind of unusual for a dohnut store, I think.

Do you have a favorite doughnut place where you live? We have many different kinds here in Houston, but Shipley's has always been my favorite. There are several Hispanic bakeries ... one just a mile or so from here that does a humongous business, with cars sometimes even lined up in the street!

Remember my addiction to fudge bars a few months back? Well, I still have a few left in the freezer. Hang on a sec here while I go check to see how many. Seven. Seven, can you believe that?!? Ice cream has an expiration date, doesn't it? Those are probably inching towards it, but my palate just doesn't have a desire for chocolate of any sort right now.

Speaking of ice cream, tho, I have been buying some ... butter pecan from Baskin-Robbins, just down the street from me - close to the bridge studio, actually. Tonight (from 5-10pm) all of their locations in Houston will be offering ice cream at 31 cents a scoop. That's a good deal, isn't it? I don't know. I won't be going because I buy it by the quart for $5.59 and have a nice quantity in the freezer patiently waiting for my consumption.

Btw, I just found out about - via my internet-searching fingers - this location. Have been going to one much further away! LOL This goes back to my taxicab-driving days, when I was on the way east and not really looking around to see what might be available much closer to home. (Same thing is true for a closer KFC location, which I find quite amusing, in almost a macabre sort of way! No such luck with Luby's, tho. They're still as far away as ever.)

All for now, folks. Hope this day finds you well, ingesting food you really enjoy and looking forward to the rest of the week.

The "Forever" stamp

2010-04-26T14:15:00.002-05:00

I have a few other topics that I'm going to talk about in later posts, but thought I'd share this little tidbit with you before it disappears completely from my mind.

Did you know ... ... that the US Post Office is still selling those 'Forever' stamps - and, at the original price? (44 cents each) I found that out just a few days ago when the lady in front of me - I was there to mail Jacky's copy of my will - bought three books of them.

Dumb me. I thought, a couple of years back, when I bought several booklets of twenty each, that they wouldn't be offered for sale again and that those stamps could be used forever, no matter how many times first class postage went up. That's true, but they can still be purchased. Did you know that?? If you're running low on these stamps, hie your body on over to your local branch and get some more while the gettin's good!

We lose another one

2010-04-24T12:15:00.002-05:00

The American Contract Bridge League's Unit 174 lost another of its members this past week ... ... Jack Clark, who played mainly at night at the Pasadena and Clear Creek duplicate bridge clubs.

I didn't know Mr. Clark. Those clubs are on the far southeast side of town, and about the only times I get over that way are when I'm going to Kemah.

So why am I writing about him? Because he died while playing bridge Tuesday evening, that's why!

That would have been a real shocker to his partner and any others present, but I can hardly think of a more pleasant way to go than doing something you love, can you?

Bye, Jack, and I hope that - wherever you are - there are three others who are looking for a fourth!

A green time line

2010-04-24T11:45:00.006-05:00

Marty, my BBO friend from Indpls, has done it again ... forwarded on an e-mail that I thought you all might enjoy.

It's a type of clock ... ... the top row shows seconds - 2nd row minutes - 3rd hours - 4th days - 5th months - 6th years. Click here to see what I'm talking about. You don't have to do anything. It automatically adjusts to your time zone. Just look at the green line and all will quickly become clear to you.

Did you do it? Click on the "here"? Isn't that neat? Comes from a Dutch web site, and a big shout out thank you to Marty for sending it along.

PS. When I first starting watching the seconds roll by, I thought, "My goodness! There's my life going tick, tick, tick." That bothered me a little ... thought I should probably get right up and do something! ... but then I settled down and let my fascination take over.

A hodgepodge

2010-04-17T17:05:00.008-05:00

I was playing a little BBO today and checking in on the Astros every once in a while to see how badly they were getting beaten (They're in Chicago, playing against the Cubs.) when - lo and behold, they won! Can you believe it? I can't! Hmmph!! I wonder who was pitching, how the runs scored, who 'saved' the game and all that other good stuff?

Checking throughout the league, I thought I'd take a gander to see if anyone else was even close to us in winning percentage (.182) ... (Thought sure the Washington Nationals might be. Remember how they held up the bottom of the whole league last year? Not this year!) ... and caught a glimpse of the foundering Baltimore Orioles, who are now 1-10 and have lost their last eight in a row. My goodness, but that would be disheartening!

What did you do on the 15th ... work on your taxes like mad, or did you file a last-second extension like I did? I do this to myself almost every year, it seems. Now, I have no problem whatsoever remembering that date, but no doubt for a different reason than you. It's my daughter's birthday.

This year she turned 49. I told her she ought to circulate that fact often for several weeks or perhaps even a few months so everyone remembers it for a good long while. Maybe even years! Does anyone remember Jack Benny's advice on how to avoid turning 40? Same kind of thing. I don't know, DD, try it. See if it works. LOL

Speaking of last minute shenanigans, I did the same thing in February. I mean, I knew I had to renew my car registration and get it inspected before March came along, but I sat here in the house 'doing my thing' - procrastinaire extraordinaire, that's me! The very last weekend of February came along and I still hadn't gotten the job done.

The 28th was on a Sunday, I believe, and I nervously drove on up to Randall's, hoping against hope that they still had some registration renewals left. Sure enough, they did! (I don't really deserve such good luck.) On the way back home, registration in hand, I only half-heartedly looked for a place that might be open to do an inspection on a Sunday and sure enuf - there wasn't one.

Monday came along. March 1st. I was afraid to leave the house. I was now illegal. On Tuesday, I tentatively backed the car out of the garage and then went forward onto the street, thinking every second that I was going to see a police car and would be pulled over to get my well-earned ticket.

No police car. I got out onto Wilcrest and headed north. I "knew" of a garage at the corner of Wilcrest and Bellaire that did inspections, just three traffic lights away. I made it! Unfortunately, they no longer do inspections. Oh, unhappy day. What to do? What to do?

They recommended a place a little further west on Bellaire. Maybe two or three lights. A Shell station. I thought, "I'll never make it!" However, I had no choice, so drove on. Long story short, I made it. Had to wait in line behind other fellow procrastinators. We all thanked our lucky stars for our good fortune and afterwards blithely went on our merry ways, new stickers prominently displayed, heads held high and smug smiles held firmly in place.

It was while I was waiting at the Shell station that I had the opportunity to watch a fellow replace a goodly percentage of their overhead fluorescent light bulbs, the ones that illuminate the area around the gas pumps. That was interesting! (I find the oddest things fascinating these days!) I visited with him extensively and learned a lot about his job. What do they do in inclement weather? (Not all jobs are under a roof!) The answer was, unless it was a hurricane-type of event with enormous winds or with accompanying lightning strikes, they got wet. Rrvit! I wouldn't have liked that very much.

Last night, I watched a PBS hour-long special on the last leg of the Appalachian Trail - going from Georgia to Maine. Some parts of it included the portion that Chuck and Ellen worked on last year, and so it was of double interest to me.

Right now, Chuck is just finishing up his latest volunteer effort ... this one in Arkansas' Ozark Mountains. He'll be reporting shortly on that trip. He's dedicated much of his blog to his outdoor adventures and is almost always a fascinating read. I highly recommend it.

Guess what? I'm hungry! In my travels Thursday, I happened to pass by a Kentucky Fried Chicken place and thought, "Boy, it's been a while since I had some of their fried chicken!" It sounded pretty darn good to me, so I ordered two pcs. of crispy dark meat (a leg and a thigh) with mashed potatoes and cole slaw. It was delicious!

I reheated what I didn't finish yesterday and am about to head out of the house to get some more, except this time I think I'll choose corn on the cob (if they still have some) instead of coleslaw - just as soon as I hit "Publish Post". Can almost taste it already ... yummy!

Guess what I'm doing?

2010-04-14T18:55:00.001-05:00

I'm playing BridgeBaseOnline, that's what I'm doing! :) Am I having fun? Well, yes, I am. (I'm "dummy" right now, so am starting my post.)

Guess what I'll be doing tonight? I'll be watching "my" Astros, who 'suck' BIG time, play the Cardinals in St. Louis. Lucky, lucky me! It's the first and only time this year they'll be on television (I don't have cable) until August, if you can believe that! (It's the truth.)

Checking in on other teams in "our club", let's see here ... ... Steven's Blue Jays are at the top of the heap in their division. (So what else is new? LOL ) Tammy's Yankees and my son-in-law's Red Sox are a little further down, but they needn't worry. The Jays will begin to falter ... at least by mid-season.

Who else? Well, the Phillies are having their way with the National League East ... a little unexpected, but it's early yet. They 'swept' the Astros here at home. Does that count? Bug's and Patrick's Braves are, as of this writing, in the middle of the pack ... about as we would have thought, actually. (Bug also follows the Reds, but - personally - I'm having a little trouble adding them to my list.)

The Central Division really isn't even worth talking about, unless you're a Cardinals' (Tammy, of course! She has divided allegiances.) or Cubs' (Hello, Chuck!) fan. There isn't a team I can conjure up that we might possibly be able to beat. However, being the masochist that I am, guess who'll be watching?

Now, I'm not in the habit of beating my head senselessly and incessantly against a brick wall, so I've been watching some other things on television, among them some pretty fair movies. Thought I'd share just a few with you ... ...

Had a chance last night to watch Irma La Douce (1963) for the first time ever, with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon. Not the greatest movie I've ever seen, but very entertaining! Also had the chance recently to watch The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming! Now, THAT was fun!! I've seen it once before, but it's been a good many years. Speaking of Russians, wasn't that good-looking young Russian sailor the same actor who starred in Fiddler on the Roof, another film from the 1960's (or maybe early 70's)?

Well now, shuckeydurn it all, anyway! I've just spent the last several minutes looking through the multitudinous loose papers on my desk in this room, on the kitchen counter and on the dining room table, but I cannot find the list I very carefully made of the really good films I watched recently. Sorry about that! That'll just have to be a separate post, won't it?

Before I go, I should tell you that I mentored Roop Prasad again today. Lots and lots of really good stuff came up, and we spent some quality time - at least, in my opinion! - afterwards talking about it. She's been fun to mentor ... needs to play more, but that's true of many people who are interested in learning more about the game of bridge! We came in tied in the overalls for 2/3 and I was pleased.

Hooray and yip yip yahoo!

2010-04-12T16:20:00.003-05:00

Guess what?

You'll never guess, so I'll just tell you ... I FInally got my will notarized today. WOW! What a good feeling.

Now, all I have to do is make a couple of copies, keep one and mail the other off to Jacky, my dear friend (if she'll accept it .. I haven't asked her yet).

Let's see, any other good news? Well, the Astros are losing (again!). This will make it seven in a row. The game is now in the 4th inning and the 'good guys' are behind 4-0. They're playing in St. Louis. So much for THAT one!

Let's see, what else? Nothing, really, except that I'm in an exceptionally good mood. How's your day going?

Playing catch up

2010-04-12T12:55:00.004-05:00

Well, you caught me right in the middle of reading a bunch of my favorites' posts and adding comments here and there, when I just had to stop dead in my tracks and write this short post to recommend one of Chuck's, where he talks extensively about Har-Ber Village, located in northwest Arkansas.

Have you ever heard of it? Or of Harvey and Bernice Jones? "No" to both questions was my answer, but I found Chuck's post so interesting that I did a little research on the history of the place and the Jones's lives. Fascinating reading!

If you have a few moments to spare, read Chuck's post and then go on to this site, which gives even more detailed information. What really blows my mind are the admission prices* ... $3.50 for ages 14-62 (under 14 years are free), $2.50 for 62+ years of age and free admission for school-sponsored tours.

*You might have noted that these prices are a little different from those Chuck had in his post. I took them right off of the Har-Ber Village website.

Scattered thoughts ...

2010-04-11T14:15:00.001-05:00

... for Sunday, April 11th, 2010.

What did I do of import Thursday? I got a haircut. Badly needed. To say that I looked like a shaggy dog would be kind. I'm not 'gorgeous', but my hair is at least trimmed and neat. A good thing.

On Friday, I made the long drive out to Kemah and enjoyed two - after all, it was happy hour! - of their delicious margaritas, at the same time enjoying chips and dip and nibbling on red snapper, some of which is still in my refrigerator and about to undergo its second warmup. :)

I had the car radio on all these times, of course, and took a few notes on what I heard that I had some reaction to. These are in addition, for the most part, to what I've seen on television recently ... ...

Sarah Palin ... Have you gotten tired of hearing that name? I have! I'm tired of seeing her face, her daughter's and grandchild's faces and hearing Sarah's 'down home' accent. It just sounds "hillbillyish" to me.

Sandra Bullock ... The nasty thought occurred to me that she was given an Academy Award only because she would shortly become so controversial and could provide so much grist for Hollywood's never-ending gossip mills. I mean, my goodness! Sandra Bullock's personal life this, Sandra Bullock's love life that ... ... stop, already!!

Tiger Woods? Same type of comments.

What's been happening to our gas prices, anyway? They're nowhere near what they were a couple of years ago, but still! I couldn't help but notice them.

One final little thought ... ... I passed a Mister CarWash on the way back home and saw a sign that said, "Go, Astros!"

Go, Astros??? They're aught and five right now, folks. Nuff said.

That's all for today. I'm going to take a little break here and play some BridgeBaseOnline. I hope, if I don't meet up with one of my 'friends', that I'll at least hook up with a halfway decent partner.

Catcha next time, ok?

Simon Says ... #4

2010-04-07T13:25:00.001-05:00

Folks, you're in for a treat today!

These come around few and far between. In fact, the last one I came across was so long ago that I can't remember when it was! LOL

Same oh, same oh, as far as directions go. (See previous Simon Says posts for more details.) Follow each instruction exactly and in order. If you don't, as with happened with Nancy in the last one, you'll end up far off the mark, wondering where you could possibly have gone wrong.

This one is really easy. The only step you need to take a little extra care with (imo) is #9. Make sure you move the indicated letter far enough to the right. This sort of direction has almost always been my downfall. :(

Ready to begin? Good!

1. Print the phrase HIGH NOON, omitting the space between words.
2. Change the double O to a double L.
3. Insert a C after the fourth letter. (This type of direction always means 'from the left', ok?)
4. Delete the vowel.
5. Insert a K after the fourth letter.
6. Change each H to an E.
7. Insert an R between the second vowel and the first consonant from the left and change the rightmost letter to a Y.
8. Switch the letter that comes earliest in the alphabet with the second vowel from the left.
9. Move the leftmost letter five positions to the right. Be careful here!
10. Insert an A in the third position from the left and delete the N.

(What do you see? If you see GRACE KELLY, you're halfway there. Hooray! When I saw this, I laughed out loud. What fun!!)

11. Switch the two leftmost vowels with each other.
12. Replace the double letter with DO.
13. Delete the first and last letters.
14. Change the K to a double W.
15. Insert an I between the two adjacent letters that are next to each other in the alphabet.
16. Insert an R in the fifth position from the left.
17. Insert an N in the third position from the right.
18. Delete the third vowel from the right.
19. Move the leftmost W to the right end.
20. Delete the consonant that comes earliest in the alphabet.

What do you have? If you have REAR WINDOW, congratulations! Wasn't that just great fun? I don't think I've seen more than one or two of these previously. Had to share it with you as quickly as I could!

The Defiant Ones

2010-04-05T13:30:00.003-05:00

That's the title of a movie that will be shown this afternoon (3pm) on local Channel 2.2.

When I first read the title, I thought, "This sure sounds like a remake of the really powerful 1958 film by the same title and starring Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis", altho there was no mention of that in the review! (Why the devil ever not?!?)

The movie that will be shown in a little over an hour was made in 1985 and stars Robert Urich and Carl Weathers. Now, I like Robert Urich but am unfamiliar with the name "Carl Weathers", altho I would probably recognize his face if I took the time to view the film.

However, I have just finished publishing my latest - and extraordinarily long - post, and am going to take a break by playing some BBO. When I'm dummy, if I happen to think about it, I'll sneak off into the other room and see how it's going.

Later!

Lewd and lascivious behavior ...

2010-04-05T13:00:00.013-05:00

... was exhibited by a member of my own immediate family just the other day. What was this behavior? It was stripping ... ... in public, no less, and over a several hour period. Shocking, eh what?

Well, not really. You don't strip a piece of furniture inside your home unless you want to be overcome by the fumes. At least, that's how I remember my own stripping experience back in Ohio many years ago. It was a door. And boy, I want to tell you, that sucker did not want to be stripped! What a mess!! I hated that job, but we (my husband lent a very welcome hand towards the end) finally got 'er done.

Now that I have your attention, I thought I'd move on to the even more mundane and tell you what I've been doing for the past month or so. For those of you whose imaginations were titillated by the headline and hoped (?) you were going to get to read things of a pornographic nature ... well, you've already read them. Sorry about that! LOL

The rest of this post will be a "bits & pieces" type of thing. In fact, I have so many little tidbits in mind that I'll probably headline each section. That way, if you see a subject you're not particularly interested in, you can skip right on over it. How's that sound? Only fair, right?

Astros ... ... Opening day is Monday. (This post was started Saturday afternoon.) I came to that realization earlier today when I noticed that it was April already. (April 1st came and went almost unnoticed by me. Did you get fooled by anybody?) So, I went to the 2010 Astros Schedule (previously known as the 2009 Astros Schedule) in order to copy down the dates when I would be able to watch them on TV - always limited because I don't have cable.

Two years ago, every Sunday game was shown on Channel 20. That was nice! Last year, there was nothing you could really point your finger toward and say, "Hey, it's Sunday." (or Monday, or whatever day) "The Astros are on!" I was lucky to be able to watch them once a month and it was usually on a Saturday. This year, I was kind of hoping they'd be on a little more regularly, but was shocked (shocked!) to find the only game in April that will be televised for those of us not on cable is when they play the Cardinals in St. Louis on the 14th. That's a Wednesday, folks, and will be the middle game of a 3-game set, with Tuesday an "off" day. What's with these schedules where there's an off day smack dab in the middle of a series? I don't understand it at all!

Guess how many games I'll be able to watch in May, June, or July? ZERO! (!!) Can you believe it? Just incredible! One in August - Saturday, the 20th, when they play the Mets in New York. Then, as if all of a sudden they realized that major league baseball is going on, every Saturday game in September is scheduled to be shown (concluding with the 1st Saturday in October - the middle game of that last series here at home against the Cubs). Is that wild, or what?

Yesterday (Saturday ... it's Sunday now), I listened on the radio, on my way back and forth to Luby's, to the Astros getting absolutely creamed by Steven's Blue Jays in the last pre-season game here at home. You remember the Blue Jays, don't you? That's the team that drives everyone in Canada crazy by starting out strong to get their fans' hopes up, but then begins fading about mid-season and is almost nowhere to be found at the end.

Our home opener is against the Giants (ho hum) and it won't be until our third series that we start meeting fellow Central Divisionites (Is that even a word?) - the Cardinals and Cubs. However, we end the season with Central Division foes ... three against the Reds in their home park and three against Chuck's Cubbies here at home. That last series, in particular, depending on the standings at the time, might be of special interest to a couple of people I know. We'll just have to see how it goes.

My last will and testament ... ... Three weeks ago tomorrow, on the 15th of March, I finally rewrote my last will and testament. (I hadn't rewritten it since my last divorce, over twenty years ago. Shame, shame!) Do you remember - by some weird chance - that my one and only New Year's resolution in 2009 was to rewrite it? I didn't make any resolutions for 2010. I mean, why would I?

Anyway, it took me the whole day and I was so anxious to get the whole thing signed and notarized that I called Sam Miller, my lawyer, to see how late he'd be at the office. (He's downtown and I live a good thirty minutes away.) I told him what I needed. It was already nearly 5:30. He asked, "Do you have two witnesses?" (No, I didn't.) I rushed out of the house to the nearest branch of my bank (now Chase), just up the street. I thought, "They'll handle this for me. They've notarized stuff for me before." (Well, back when they were Washington Mutual they did, but then I thought, "A bank's a bank, right? This'll be easy!")

Well, they don't notarize wills. I found this out only after I'd been waiting in line almost twenty minutes. Ugh. Double ugh! I was directed across the street to an insurance office where (I was told) they would get me all set up. And so off I sped. I arrived at the insurance office and asked, upon entering the door, "Do you notarize wills?" "Yes," was the answer. Oh happy day!

However, the job didn't get done. My will went on and on (and on) for three pages and had no provisions for signatures, witnesses, or notarizations. (A question: How does one live as long as I have and still be so ignorant? ... Please don't answer that. I mean, you can think the answer but don't write it, ok? I feel badly enough already.)

They were kind enough to make copies of a couple of pages that I needed to add to the will to make it "official". Guess what? (You've already guessed, haven't you?) I still haven't done it. You're not surprised, are you? (If you are surprised, then you don't know me very well!)

I did notify my daughter that a 'last will and testament' had finally been completed by me and where she could find it on my computer. Does that count positively for anything? Probably not.

Guess what's on my "to do" list for tomorrow?

Easter weekend ... ... This is it, and I - along with all other Christians in the world - am celebrating the wondrousness of Christ's resurrection. Truly, it is almost unimaginable to me that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that I - only one of many sinners! - could have everlasting life. I feel honored, certainly unworthy and most humbled.

I went in search of movies that would be shown for this most special of holidays and found only one (keep in mind that I do not have cable) ... ... I found The Ten Commandments, which came out in 1956, starring Charlton Heston (among many other fine actors and actresses) and directed and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille (who would have been tickled, I think, at my use of the word "lascivious" in the title of this post). Well, come to think of it, maybe not. I didn't use it in any sort of religious context, only to attract attention to my blog.

This film, while not directly related or inferring in any way to the life of Jesus, is (imo) of deep religious import and an epic that will probably remain forever embedded in the minds of all of us who believe in "one God". I took the time to watch it - a little over four hours last night, with very few commercial breaks - and am so glad I did!

Mentor/mentee games ... ... I offered to help with the mentor/mentee games at the Houston Bridge Studio (where I mentor twice a month) and was taken up on my offer by Kathy Hughes. I was to be in charge of the game on Thursday evening, March 25th.

Boy oh boy, I mean to tell you, you have no idea whatsoever the amount of work one of these things entails unless you are actually in charge of it. None! I thought I was doing pretty well ... ... had spent many hours alphabetizing mentors' and mentees' names, charting when they had last played and with whom in the last two or three months, recording masterpoints (mentors are "seeded", particularly the N-S pairs, which I hadn't known), noting regular/established partnerships, fielding phone calls from Kathy and others and setting up the upcoming game ... ... until Thursday afternoon, the 25th, came along and I was forced to take the car to the garage because the "service engine soon" light had just come on.

Those were hours I didn't have to spare, but had to because - due to all my years as a taxicab driver, I'm sure - I just don't fiddle around when trouble lights come on in my vehicle. No problems were found (?!?) and, believe you me, Micky's group checked everything! They reset the computer and I was told to drive the car just like normal until the light came on again (if it did).

You know, I seem to remember something like this happening once before with this car. Two or three years ago, maybe. I took it to the garage (same garage), they checked it all over, reset the computer and told me to drive it until the light came on again. Well, it never did until last week.

I was told that the "service engine soon" light has to do with the emissions system. The problem could be as simple as an improperly-seated gas cap to a worn or semi-detached hose to ... ... well, just about anything and nearly impossible to find. Hmmph!

Anyway, I've been driving it for over a week now with no recurring trouble light. I didn't really 'expect' to see one appear, but it was good to learn that the problem - whatever it might be or have been - was emissions-related and probably not serious. I just had an added thought. Suppose that "ses" light came on because the car missed Micky, his shop and the extra attention it received when it was taken there. What do you think? I mean, now that it's not being driven as a taxicab anymore, its visits there are few and far between.

Do you assign names to your vehicles? Do they have feelings? Personalities? Minds of their own? (Btw, it's now Monday morning. My priorities for today have changed. #1 is to finish and publish this post. I think three days is more than a long-enough allotted time, don't you?)

But, let's go back to Thursday afternoon, March 25th, and my final preparations for the mentor/mentee game that evening, which was due to start at 7pm. I had already composed the master list of who would be playing, alphabetically arranged by mentees' names, as I'd been instructed. All there was left to do was fill out the entry slips for the director and make out the name tags, using the second set of markers I'd purchased (first set was the wrong kind). It's been a good 20 years (or better!) since I last used a marker for anything and was totally confused by the myriad of offerings at the stores. And so, I had asked for help from someone at the second store I went to. I felt well-equipped.

I arrived back home somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00. There was time, I thought, to do both - not a lot, but enough - and still be able to get over to the studio early. (No time to eat, but that was about the last thing on my mind!) There were 13 full tables scheduled to play. That's a perfect movement. Two boards per round, 13 rounds, except in these mentor/mentee games they only play 12 rounds. This allows 15-20 or so extra minutes for the mentor/mentee to go over the game just played - referring to the hand records as desired, the mentor making a positive comment or two - perhaps even adding a suggestion/s for improvement - and the mentee asking questions. It's a really good setup. Well thought out.

I finished the entry slips, which took awhile because there were 26 of them, and was ready to tackle the name tags. To my horror, the second set of markers was no good, either. They 'bled' all over the name tags! I must have ruined four or five name tags, thinking I was the culprit, that I was doing something wrong. I quickly searched the house (once again!) for a black marker to use that still had some ink left in it. No luck. I hadn't thought there would be, but I had to at least try!

I finally decided to use a green very fine felt-tipped pen, which I knew would work, but no one more than a foot away from the wearer would be able to see, much less read the name! Even at a shorter distance it would be a strain. I was almost finished - had just a few names to go - when I discovered that I no longer had enough name tags.

Ye gods! It was at this point, I think, that I almost completely froze in utter frustration. I had to go back to the store, buy some more name tags and arrive at the studio not nearly as early as I would have liked and not completely prepared.

I could hardly make myself move. I didn't cry. Not then nor later, which kind of surprises me because I've been known to burst into tears at the slightest provocation. It's more like I was a zombie.

I arrived at the studio in that state, clutching all of my materials. Actually, I had to make two trips back and forth to the car to get stuff. People were already there. It was a near disaster. If it hadn't been for the director, Wolf Schroeter, assuring me that others had done 100 times worse (When?!?) and taking charge when one and a half tables of my total count simply didn't show up, leaving us with 11 1/2 tables and everyone playing 8 rounds of three boards each (with a N-S sitout of three boards, which is hateful at best), I wouldn't have been able to continue on in the evening and play with my mentee*.

*Walter Freitag, may God bless his patience, smile and friendship. We won overall that evening, can you imagine? (!) Lots of mistakes made our way, but even more by the opponents, and so there you have it! LOL

Now, Eric Watson ... ... btw, here's Eric (just a horrid picture of him .. he's much better-looking than that .. but many of us are not photogenic) ... ...

... is in charge of this month's Thursday evening mentor/mentee game (April 22nd). We're alternating months.

It took me about four days to recover from March 25th and want to even begin thinking about mentor/mentee games, but a couple of days ago I finally finished and sent to Eric - after double- and triple-checking yet once again! - the masters I had made for these games. I sure hope he's received them - have had no confirmation of same - and is able to make some good use out of them.

Last hurrah for this post ... ... This has gotten to be extra long, but I have decided to stop here and hit "publish". There were other things I was going to share with you, but I've decided, "Enough already!"

I hope this finds you well. I'll try and talk atcha again real soon.

Simon Says ... #3

2010-03-22T13:15:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been over four months since I last published one of these! (And I promised you one each month, too! I lied.) I am a bad, bad, bad, bad girl.

This next one has a lot of letters in it and you might find some of the directions a touch confusing. The important thing to remember is to take your time and follow the directions exactly, doing the steps in the order presented. If you do, you should end up with an amusing word or phrase that is apropos to where you started. I'm including this one, even tho it's a little complicated, because I am so fond of the answer.

Ready? (If you're not quite ready, go here, where my directions might have been a little more precise.) Now are you ready? Hope so! Here we go and good luck! ... ... ...

1. Print the phrase A SEMINAR ON TIME TRAVEL, omitting the spaces.
2. Move the last letter in the row to the immediate right of the S.
3. Insert a D in the exact center of the row.
4. Change the letter that appears latest in the alphabet to a G.
5. Exchange the second letter from the left with the eighth letter from the right.
6. Change every M to a W.
7. Delete the third vowel (A, E, I, O, or U) from the right.
8. Double the first consonant from the left.
9. Change the center letter in the row to an I.
10. Move the S two positions to the right. (Watch out here. When I first started working these, I ALways got this kind of direction wrong! If you end up with some sort of gobbledygook, this is probably where you started erring. Remember, if you get an early answer wrong, it affects all of the succeeding ones adversely. :( To give you a little hint of what I was doing wrong, I never moved the letter far enough!)
11. Change the last letter in the row to an O. (This kind of direction always means 'as you are reading, from left to right'.)
12. Move the first W from the left to the very beginning of the row.
13. Insert a Y to the immediate left of the first T from the right.
14. Delete all R's.
15. Replace the last I from the left with HE.
16. Move the first vowel from the left to the immediate right of the Y.
17. Change the leftmost A to a B and then move it three positions to the left. (As with #10, be careful!)
18. Exchange the fifth letter from the right with the seventh letter from the right.
19. Delete all N's.
20. Change the third vowel from the left to an L and move it to the immediate right of the next vowel. ("Next" means moving along the line of letters to the right.)
21. Insert an O between the seventh and eighth letters from the right.
22. Change the first T from the right to a D.

Well, how do you think you did? If you ended up with WILL BE HELD TWO DAYS AGO, hooray for you! I'm absolutely amazed and delighted to tell you that I got this one on the first try. Not trying to brag, mind you. Just conveying my astonishment!

A neat thing

2010-03-15T13:55:00.002-05:00

Do you enjoy the precision of silent drill teams? I do!

My friend Marty ("ucancallme") - from BBO - sends me one or two e-mails daily with enclosures or attachments. They're ALL great, but this one cannot (or should not!) escape my posting it today.

If you have about four minutes to spare, go here to see the routine our US Navy Ceremonial Guard Silent Drill Team recently used to win an international competition. It's amazing!

News from Wendy

2010-03-08T16:30:00.002-06:00

Remember her? One year ago, give or take a month or so, I told all of you that I very much doubted if she would attempt another summit climb of Everest.

Well, it appears that I was wrong. In fact, if I can get this link to work right, you can read her latest newsletter. As you will see, she's planning to leave for Tibet on March 24th. More later.

PS. I have published many posts about Wendy. To read one or two, simply go to the top of this page, type Wendy Booker into the rectangular box at the left and hit Send. That will get you started.

When I was young and stupid,

2010-03-08T16:10:00.002-06:00

I thought that old people never had any fun. Now that I'm old, but not that much wiser, I realize how wrong I was.

I was just reading two of Barry's posts, autobiographical sketches gifted to him by his mother twenty-some years ago.

Do you enjoy reading true stories from the past? I do! In particular, I enjoyed reading about the lamplighter that his mom wrote about in this first excerpt. Barry published part two of this a day later, just before his mom was buried.

As always, Barry does not invite us to grieve. On the contrary, his posts often show the 'up' side of things, a celebration of life.

When reading about the past, I am most appreciative of old-timey type photos that best illustrate the era, and Barry includes a few of those in these two posts.

I was reminded of another of my favorite bloggers, Audrey Kaminski, who seldom publishes, but every once in a while has a real lulu, like this one, which includes photographs from the era.

I got to thinking about my mother. Did they have electricity where/when she was growing up? I don't remember her saying anything otherwise, so I suppose they did.

I asked her once what she did "for fun" when she was a kid. (I wouldn't want to be a parent nowadays. I'm too old. There are too many temptations out there.) Do you know what she told me? She said they played with metal hoops and sticks. Whomever could make the hoop go furthest with the stick before it toppled over was the winner. Sounds simple, doesn't it? But a whole lot of fun, I'll betcha!

Trifocals

2010-03-05T16:20:00.008-06:00

I'd known for some time that I needed new glasses, but had been putting off going to the optometrist because I thought he'd check the status of my cataracts again and I'm just not ready to undergo that surgery.

However, push finally came to shove. Two things were bothering me in particular. 1) Driving ... ... I was getting around "just fine" only because I know Houston so well. I really don't recommend fuzzy distance viewing. 2) Working at the computer ... ... My bifocals didn't work at all - neither top nor bottom portions of the lenses - and, because my eyes were receiving no help for the astigmatism (right) or floating 'stuff'* (left), they quickly became tired. I gave in and called for an appointment.

This time around I had two different types of glasses in mind, trifocals and driving glasses. The driving glasses were a no-brainer, but the trifocals idea stemmed from the three different distances I focus on most often ... a) reading or solving word puzzles/games, (b) working at the computer (2') and c) watching television (3') at the kitchen table while doing the latter part of a). Sounded like trifocals to me!

[I've had bifocals for over thirty years. I remember getting my first pair. My husband went with me, because we'd been warned by the ophthalmologist that they'd take a bit of getting used to. It's a good thing he went with me and was holding my arm. I'd have fallen on my face more than once! Took a while to get used to them.]

I really like my optometrist. Have been going to him for years! The exam is usually quite thorough, and initially done by one of his interns. He gets them on three-month rotations from one of the local schools. I haven't met a bad one yet, altho there was one I thought was a little suspect a few years back. The optometrist does the final exam ... asking questions of me, correcting and making suggestions to the intern all the while. Kind of fascinating, actually.

I was relieved when he didn't mention having a closer look to see how fast my cataracts were developing, and I wasn't about to bring up the subject, so there you have it. The only question we had was whether or not to order trifocals with demarcation lines.

The driving glasses were made while I waited, and then (By the way, I love them!) the doctor had me try on this gizmo, showing me how graduated lenses w/o lines would be. I didn't like it at all, so we ordered ones with lines.

When I got the call a week or so later, however, telling me my trifocals were in, I didn't immediately trot my body on over there to pick them up. I was really nervous about it, even though I had been assured that we could easily go another direction if I didn't like them. (He wants no unsatisfied customers!) But, I finally went - four days later and brought them home with me. I didn't even try them on. I just looked to see if they were trifocals. They were.

Well, ok. Showtime. I sat down at the kitchen table, put on my brand new trifocals, turned on the tv and began working a puzzle. So far so good. The top and bottom lenses appeared to be correct. I didn't need the middle one unless I was working at the computer, but I wasn't in any hurry to try that out. Chicken. Yes, I was!

I was due to mentor Thursday evening at the bridge studio. As I was parking the car in the lot, I thought, "Boy, this'll be a great place to try out the whole range of my new glasses!" For months, I'd been putting on my bifocals to sort and bid my hand and then placing them on the table for the play and defense. I thought this would be just a fabulous test, and couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that when the idea of trifocals first occurred to me.

The whole evening was spent in wonder and total clarity of vision. What a wonderfully pleasant surprise! Never took my new glasses off the whole time (except when I left the table to walk around). My goodness!

Since then, of course, I often wear my trifocals when working at the computer. In fact, I have them on right now. It takes a while to get used to that narrower middle lense, but eventually it does happen and you get to the point where you don't even notice the lines. One of my smarter moves in recent years.

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*See this post for more info on floating 'stuff' in my left eye.

Final thoughts

2010-02-28T13:10:00.003-06:00

Yes, I realize that I am publishing this before the men's gold medal hockey game or the closing ceremonies even begin, but - for me - this is as it should be. Yes, I'll be watching the hockey game (after "The Sixth Sense"), but then that'll be it.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the games. This will be my fifth post on them, and - if you have read the others - you already know what I liked most, what I found amusing, and what grated a little on me.

Rather than repeat myself, I thought it might be interesting to publish something a little different. And so, without further ado, here are my takes on ... ...

Pleasant surprises ... Not only watching (Via this wonderful link that Tammy sent me. Had to use it, because I was mentoring at the bridge studio Thursday evening, and was unable to view his performance live. Thank you, Tammy!) Evan Lysacek's gold medal-winning performance in men's figure skating, but realizing much later - during an interview with Bob Costas - that his hair did not naturally look like that, all plastered down, thank goodness. What a good-looking man! Adding to the pleasantness of my surprise was the calm and gracious manner in which he answered Bob's questions, including the one inquiring as to whether or not he intended to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. He replied (with a little wry grin on his face), "I'd like to, but I'm not sure they'll let me into the country!" (This comment, of course, a direct referral to Evgeni Plushenko's - not to mention the Russian premier's - very public criticism of his not performing a quad. I was a little surprised, actually ... glad, but surprised, to see the Russian perform in the gala yesterday.)

Another pleasant surprise was the amount of medals - and they started coming early! - the US won in the Alpine events. Unheard of, I think! Congratulations to all of our athletes who sacrificed, trained and worked so hard to compete in them. We appreciate you. I appreciate you!

Shocking things ... I don't know who was not shocked at the very unexpected turn of events in the men's speed skating event - 1500 meter, wasn't it? - when the skater from the Netherlands, easily on his way to Olympic gold, was mis-directed into the wrong lane by his coach and - rather than win the event - was subsequently disqualified. Since then, I have been searching for a word to describe this catastrophe. I have failed.

A Vancouverite's view ... Go here to read what Jo has to say about the Olympics being held where she lives and what she's been able to observe and take part in. Be sure to keep scrolling down to at least February 13th, where she talks about the opening ceremonies, which is one of my favorite posts of hers. Another of my personal favorites is this one, where she writes extensively about the White Bear People and the Spirit Bear. Fascinating stuff!

[I would like to add a comment or two about the gold medal winners' deportment during the award ceremonies. In my opinion, it is completely unnecessary that they sing - forget lip synching! - their national anthem. Is that how they got there, because they could sing their national anthem? No! They got there because of multitudinous hours of self-sacrifice, training and dedication to their sport. I can understand an athlete's inability to fully take part in the ceremony. I can only imagine - unless they've been in that position many times before, and very few have! - the euphoria they must be feeling and the blurriness of all the splendiferous activity going on around them. My most sincere hope is that someone has been recording this event for them, and they can relive it later when things have calmed down a bit. Standing at attention, perhaps with hand over heart, should be the maximum requirement. But, again, that's just my opinion.]

An epitomization of the best in all of us (we can only hope!) ... NBC has done a magnificent job showing us what our neighbor to the north - Canada - is all about, but in all of these really wonderful segments there is one thing that keeps screaming itself aloud - over and over - in my mind. The people, Goldenrod, the people!

And then yesterday, I was privileged to view - in its entirety - the premiere showing of Tom Brokaw's extended (30-40+ minutes) piece on the small town of Gander, in Newfoundland, and the part this extraordinary community had to play in the aftermath of early 9/11/2001. I am not the first blogger to write about this, no sirree. Check this site out for confirmation.

What a glorious piece! They broke for commercials a time or two during its airing, and I really didn't make note of the opening time (didn't know how long it would be!), so I can't tell you for sure how long it actually is from start to finish. I'll tell you one thing, tho ... ... it's well worth your time to view it (taping it, if possible, for future enjoyment) in its entirety.

So many heroes ... ... the airport controllers, who expanded from 3 to 14 (!) in a manner of minutes and landed (I forget the actual figure, but it was astronomical!) all of the diverted planes without incident. "It was an emergency," the chief controller said. "We train for events like these." ... ... the local bus drivers, who were on strike at the time, coming back to a man to assist in transporting the thousands of stranded airline passengers around ... ... the two local drugstores, who filled for free medicating prescriptions that had to be left on board with the checked luggage ... ... the thousands of townspeople (and those in surrounding communities) who quickly volunteered to step in and offer food, lodging and emotional support.

So many wonderful personal stories ... ... the stranded couple who actually met, married and then honeymooned there ... ... the parents of Kevin O'Rourke (sp? - cannot find the original article), a NYC fireman who was at first listed among the missing and later confirmed dead ... ... a passenger on Delta 15, who was instrumental in obtaining pledges for the citizens of Gander (who would not accept monetary contributions while the stranded passengers were there) in the amount of $15,000 (US) .. those monies were intended to establish a scholarship fund for graduating students in the area .. that fund has increased, btw, to nearly $900,000. (!)

There's a pretty fair writeup about Tom Brokaw's piece here, if you'd care to read further.

I'd just like to close by saying, "Thank you, Canada, for your hospitality and warmth during these past two weeks. I cannot imagine having a better neighbor!"

Rules cats live by

2010-02-25T11:45:00.002-06:00

Thought I'd go in a different direction from the Olympics for a post or two and share with you an e-mail that our friend, Jennie, sent me.

If you're a cat lover, you'll relate to it and have a few laughs (or moans and groans, as the case may be). If you're not a cat lover, you'll sneer and congratulate yourself that you don't own a cat.

Whichever you are, here it is ... ...

Bathrooms: Always accompany humans to the bathroom. It is not necessary to do anything. Just sit and stare.

Doors: Do not allow closed doors in any room. To get a human to open a closed door, scratch on it with your foreclaws or just sit and meow piteously until someone comes to your assistance. Once a door is opened, it is not necessary to use it. If an "outside" door has been graciously opened for you, stand halfway in and out and think about what you'll be doing next. It is particularly important to remember this during very cold weather, rain, snow, or mosquito season.

Chairs and Rugs: If you have to throw up, get to a chair quickly. If you cannot manage that in time, hurry to an Oriental rug. If your home has no Oriental rugs, shag will do nicely. When throwing up on a carpet, make sure you back up as you heave so your vomit trail is as long as a human's bare foot.

Hampering: If one of your humans is engaged in some activity and the other is idle, stay with the busy one. You are expected to help, even though some humans might refer to your helping as 'hampering'. 1) When supervising cooking, sit just behind the left heel of the cook. You cannot be seen and therefore stand a better chance of being stepped on and then being picked up and comforted. 2) If your busy human is reading a book, get in under their chin - as close as you can between their eyes and the book. Better yet, lie across the book itself. 3) If your busy human is doing paperwork, lie on the work, trying to obscure as much of it as possible. Pretend to doze, but every once in a while reach out a paw and gently slap (tap) the pen or pencil. 4) If your busy human is reading a newspaper, be sure to jump on the back of it. Humans love to be surprised! 5) If your busy human is working at a computer, jump up on the desk, walk across the keyboard, bat at the mouse pointer on screen and then lie on human's lap across arms so you can more easily be of assistance with any typing in progress.

Hiding: Every now and then, hide in a place where the humans cannot find you. Do not come out for three to four hours under any circumstances! This will cause the humans to panic (which they love!), thinking that you have run away, are lost or hurt. When you do come out, the humans will cover you with love and kisses and you might even get a treat.

Although Jennie's e-mail has been liberally edited by me, I hope you got a kick out of it. At the very least, you've had a little break in your day.

... ... continued

2010-02-23T15:45:00.014-06:00

This post will be a smattering of thoughts and impressions. Guess I'll start with sponsorships.

Outside of the Mexican (I think! Don't remember for sure.) luge competitor who has his one and only (to my understanding) original sled, and at the age of 47 is still competing in the Olympics and loving every second of it, many many thousands of dollars are normally spent yearly in each sport.

Just think of the actual costs that must be involved ... ... the equipment (apparel/costumes, skates/skis/sleds/boards), the training (costs for trainer, not to mention hours and hours away from work/school/home), the travel (required to get to the training/practice sites), not to mention the costs involved just to get to the Olympics and have a place to stay and something to eat.

It's almost unimaginable to me, really! I have never been an official Olympic sponsor, although Coca Cola says in their commercials, "If you have drunk a coke in the last ---- years, you have been an Olympic sponsor." And so, if I pay strict heed to that, I guess I could consider myself an Olympic sponsor. :)

I remember years ago, when I was much more of a purist, thinking how horrible it was that an athlete born in one country was representing another in the Olympic games. Nowadays it's a much more common occurrence. I hate to say that it is all for $$, but that possibility certainly exists. I mean, who can afford (except for the very wealthy) the expenses that will be incurred, not to mention the hours and hours of training, dedication and abdication of any sort of personal life for who knows how long?

[In addition to the above-mentioned expenses, the top athletes in the world must now pay for body-guards. Can you imagine such a thing? In fact, some have even resorted to living in other countries and obscure places rather than be subjected to the seemingly never-ending barrage of people, cameras and questions. Sounds a whole lot like Hollywood, doesn't it? Grrr!]

I had no objection to the Michigan gal who competed for Georgia in pairs skating. She and her partner did not do very well, but I was glad that her partner had found a willing competitor and fellow skater. I didn't even care that her Georgian citizenship had been 'rushed through', according to the announcers.

I also had no objection to the young Japanese gal, who was forced to renounce her Japanese citizenship (Harsh!!!) in order to become eligible to compete in the pairs skating (for Russia, wasn't it?). The fact that she might never again be able to return to her homeland - criticism of her in that country has been loud and long, I understand - makes me very sad. I've tried to put myself in her place, tried to imagine having to give up my citizenship and having my name re-spelled in order to compete in a desired event, but have been unable to do so.

The only one that caused my eyebrows to rise was the native-born Canadian who was competing for Australia in the moguls. Why?!? Nothing against Australia, I hope you understand (I hope!), but that one got to me. I doubt very much that his decision had anything to do with money, and when the Canadian beat him out for Canada's first gold, I cheered like crazy!

OK. Let's move away from sponsorships, and go back to the Olympic schedule for just a moment. We are still involved in round robin sessions of the curling events, if you can believe such a thing. In a response I made to this post, I made mention of the fact that I HATE round robins! These round robin sessions (#s 11 & 12 coming up for the women ... they'll be playing against China and Switzerland) will mercifully end toDAY! Do I hear a hurrah? Hope so!

Semi-finals will be coming up for both men and women Thursday. (It'll take the officials at least that long to figure out who is advancing!) The medal games are scheduled for Friday and Saturday. However, as of this writing, it is anybody's guess who will be there. You'll just have to check your local schedules, huh?

I watched all three events in the ice dancing competition. My personal favorites (thought they had the most flair) did not win - came in second, but - all in all - I was not displeased with the results. I love pair dancing, do you? Mention was made of my personal favorites of all time - Torvill and Dean (Great Britain) - and hoped for a moment that I would be treated to a replay of their gold medal-winning performance of Ravel's "Bolero" from the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo.

It was not forthcoming, so I have spent more than just a few moments viewing various YouTube offerings, and would like to show you this one ... ...

It's not as good as what is in my memory banks, but we take what we can get, right? As you might have noted, "twizzles" (What a name!) and side by side steps were not included in the judging back then, but could you see what a pair they were? How they skated as one? Absolute and utter perfection, imo!

[I just finished reading about the current whereabouts of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, and was pleased to note that they are both still with us. They're now in their 50's. Kind of an interesting side note to this is that they were not allowed to perform again in the Olympics until 1994 in Lillehammer, after the rules for professionals competing in the Olympic games were relaxed. Do you remember those controversies? Oh, my!]

So what else am I watching? Well, I'm not watching - sorry, guys, but hockey is not one of my main interests - but have been very interested in following the progress of the US (both men's and women's) hockey teams. I see that a gold medal championship game has already been set up for the US vs. Canada (women) this Thursday. I would be surprised - shocked, actually! - if this game is not shown in its entirety on NBC. Our team and theirs have met going on twenty times this past year, and this ought to be a REALLY good game!!

The men's? Let's see, what's going on with them? Well, their gold medal game is not scheduled until Sunday. Playoffs - you're on your own for following who's still in the race and who isn't - are ongoing. Just not my 'thing', sorry about that.

Talk atcha in another couple of days, ok? Am still trying to decide whether or not I want to leave the (relatively) warm confines of my house and trudge over to McDonald's - there are two of them less than a mile from where I live - to partake "for free" (with the purchase of a large drink) one of their latest sandwich offerings ... either a turkey/bacon/cheddar cheese offering, or salami/turkey/provolone. Which do you think I should choose? Hmm?

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2/25 ... morning ... Have just checked NBC's schedule of what's being shown today, and that gold medal game (women's hockey) isn't listed. (No mention of its being included in tonight's programming, either.) Women's cross country skiing will be aired this afternoon instead. Boo!

Also, a most peculiar thing happened Tuesday when I left the house (finally!) to get my 'free' sandwich. I went to both McDonald's. At the first one, the manager told me he had never heard of the offering and at the second - after I thought to ask the manager if those two sandwiches were new additions to their menu, he answered in the negative. You don't suppose I had not been paying close enough "attention" to the commercials, do you? My, my! Some other restaurant? Jack in the Box, maybe? Wrong date? And I advertised it wrong in this post, too. Shame, shame! How many of you did I send astray and were just too polite to tell me about it? :(

A little sidenote to the Torvill/Dean writeup. I watched a few more YouTube videos of their 1984 performance, and none is as good as the one I included above. However, there is a video of their medal ceremonies from 1984, and that quality is VERY good. You can find it easily by clicking on that selection at the bottom.

They last performed Bolero together in 2006. You can watch this abbreviated version - as above - by clicking on that selection at the bottom. After you watch this, I think you'll agree with me that you'll want to go back and enjoy once more their 1984 performance. Video quality is not as good, but you'll now have a much better informed opinion of how outstanding that performance in Sarajevo was.

Speed skating ... ...

2010-02-23T13:05:00.002-06:00

I decided that I should put my personal prejudices against their clothing - in other words, stop focusing on the groin area - aside and watch some of the speed skating events.

What first comes to mind is what seems to me to be an almost 'free for all' type of activity when there are four or more skaters in the race at the same time. One of the more prominent examples of this, I think, is the race where Apolo Ohno* was in 4th place, his US teammate was in 5th, and three Koreans were ahead of them. On the very last lap, two of the Koreans took each other out. Apolo finished 2nd, luckily able to avoid the sprawled, fallen skaters, and his teammate 3rd.

[*I finally learned how to spell Apolo Ohno's name. Know how I did it? I always thought it was Apollo Ono, but his name was mentioned so many times this past week or so that I thought I'd better start paying attention. I said "Apolo", spelling it out over and over in my mind, until I got it right. And then, because it still seemed so wrong to me, it only made sense that his last name should be "Oh, no!" That'll work for me until the next unusual spelling of a name comes around. LOL]

I just called my daughter to ask if she remembered a lot of pushing and shoving when she competed in speed skating many years ago, and she denied any such thing ever happening. "At most," she said, " there was some gentle touching. I might even go so far as to call it 'nudging'." "It's really hard to pass on the corners," she added.

[She remembers going into the wall a bunch of times. "But it didn't hurt," she said. "Not like falling on those hard wood floors at the roller rink." Whaat?!? You mean to tell me ice isn't hard? :)]

It was while paying more attention to speed skating that I first came across the name Steven Colbert, the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, whose group came to the sponsorship aid of the US Olympic speed skating team last November. Yeah, yeah, I can hear all of you cableites laughing now, but that's the truth. Anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed his brief appearances on Bob Costas' show during the games.

He's funny! Upon concluding his first appearance, Steven asked Bob if he would mind if he (Steven) moved closer to the fire to warm up a bit. When Bob said, "Be my guest," or some such, Steven then proceeded to not only move closer to the fire, but spread apart the screen and climbed inside, laying with his back right next to the fire and closing the screen after him. Well, Bob couldn't stop laughing, nor could anyone else (including me!). "So much for realism," was one comment I heard.

For his second appearance, Steven came dressed as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. A lot of fun was had with that one, as you might imagine! "How can you not love and respect a country where men dare to dress - and are admired for dressing - as women with child-bearing hips?" he asked. Lots of fun. Doesn't make me want to run out and add cable to my list of multitudinous programs to watch, but a little bit of his type of humor settles very well with me.

But going back to pushing and shoving, even gentle nudging, the judges - I think they call them 'referees' - in these events have been extraordinarily vigilant, it seems to me. I have noticed, many times, some competitors actually being disqualified and others being automatically advanced to the next round because of interference. Normally, these only occur when a skater in a qualifying or medal position is interfered with. Kudos to those judges! They have a difficult task and are handling it well, imo.

Have lots more to say about the last few days, but that'll do it for this post ... ... to be continued!

More Olympic impressions

2010-02-19T12:00:00.003-06:00

I was going to watch the men's ice skating finals last night, but couldn't stay awake, so I missed Evan Lysacek's - what must have thrilling, even tho they say he didn't do a quad (Interesting!) - gold medal-winning performance. The first Olympic gold for the US since 1988, when Brian Boitano won it. Boy, I still remember his performance. Powerful!

I was all set to watch those finals Wednesday night, but they weren't on. Didn't the pairs events - short and long - follow each other on successive nights? So anyway, Wednesday found me checking the official Olympic schedule (Which I probably should have done in the first place, huh?).

I found a bunch of curling events, none of which is being shown on NBC, but did you know that the US has a curling team entered and did you also know that our curling team won a bronze medal in Torino four years ago? I knew none of that!

Brian Williams had a nice piece on curling and our team* last night at 6:30, I'm pleased to say, and then this morning NBC (segment sponsored by P&G - are you enjoying their Mom commercials as much as I am?) explained the skeleton event. I called my daughter to alert her that this was coming up. When we watched the opening ceremonies together, we both said, "Huh?" when they talked about skeleton. We are now better informed. LOL

*Just walking down the street, you would never in the world identify a curling team member as an Olympic athlete. In fact, one of the team said as much (with a huge gleam in his eye) during that interview. His comment drew big laughs, as you might imagine.

Did I watch anything Wednesday night? Well, yes I did. I watched most of the men's halfpipe (snowboarding), which normally would hold almost no interest for me except I wanted to see what all the hoopla surrounding Shaun White was about. I saw. Impressive! When it was obvious that he had won and didn't really need a second run, it was fascinating to listen to all of the discussion up top with his coaches.

"What should I do?" he asked. "Anything you want," they replied. "Could I just go down the middle of the ramp on my board?" (It was obvious that he wanted to just revel in the moment and scream and holler and jump up and down.) "No," was their answer.

And so, after a few more minutes (when everyone was waiting for him to do something!) of celebration, he started down the ramp, executing - at the very end - his never-before-seen-in-world-competition yellow banana triple split combination. (That's not what it's really called. I just made that up. I've heard several names mentioned. Make one up for yourself, ok?) What a thrill!

My overall impression of men snowboarders, outside of the fact that their pants all look like they're going to fall down around their ankles, was that wild hair must be a prerequisite for the sport. I use the word "was" because, in watching the medal ceremony later, two of the three medalists' hair were not wild. Wrong again, Goldenrod. Teehee!

I also watched some of the women's downhill, the event Lindsey Vonn won, and was moved by her tearful collapse into her husband's arms afterwards. "The waterworks just would not stop coming," she said later. When asked what she thought her chances were - think she's entered in two more Alpine skiing events, she said she really didn't want to even think about them just then. Good for her! Really, some of the questions these reporters ask!! Guess they're required to ask them, but still .. ..

I was just checking the official schedule for today and note that there is a US women's curling team entered. Boo, Brian Williams, for not even mentioning them! They're competing right now against the Russian Federation (but it's not being shown) in session 5 of a round robin. Go, ladies! Later on today, the men will be playing session 6 against France. Go, guys!

Will NBC be showing any of the curling events? Maybe the finals, I haven't checked that far ahead. This afternoon, I will not be glued to the television set. Women's cross-country skiing. Boring, at least for me.

Tonight, tho, is a little different story. They'll be showing compulsory ice dancing, which is kind of like watching Peggy Fleming do figure eights. I'll watch some of that, mainly to familiarize myself with the competitors, but won't be glued to the set.

Also tonight (live) will be the men's and women's skeleton finals. Now that my daughter and I are both somewhat better informed, we'll be watching.

More later.

Olympic impressions

2010-02-15T10:30:00.002-06:00

I told myself I wasn't going to write about the Olympics before a Canadian won home gold for his country, and thank goodness - on the second day - someone did, in the moguls. The same event in which another Canadian, altho now competing for Australia - dual citizenship - was entered. Much was made of that by the announcers, and it looked for the longest while like the Australian was going to win the gold. A very exciting ending!

The moguls. Boy, I find them difficult to watch. Maybe it's because my granddaughter is having problems with one of her knees that I am so conscious of them, but that event looks awfully tough on the knees to me! How could it not be?

Did you watch the opening ceremonies? I was going to, but then found myself falling asleep before they even started! LOL I think (hope!) my son-in-law taped them for me. I'll have to get out to their house sometime this week to watch them. I won't expect anything of a spectacular nature, like what I saw from Beijing two years ago, but I've heard they were very nice and have seen glimpses here and there. Am looking forward to watching them in their entirety.

A life lost before the games even began. Terribly unfortunate. My take on all this is that, while it is tragic that a young man lost his life, he did it doing something he loved and in pursuit of a dream. How fine! A shock for his family and friends back home and for the entire Olympic community, some of whom had already gotten to know and admire his youthful zeal and tenacity for the sport of luge.

But really, folks, these Olympic athletes push the boundaries of safety and personal well-being every time they get on the ice, snow, gymnastic apparatus, track, or wherever in their never-ending quest to go faster, higher, or be more innovative. Very few of the Olympic sports offer little in the way of danger for the competitors ... curling and ping pong, to name two right off the top of my head ... much of the rest are fraught with peril, and we should not be too surprised when an athlete suffers an injury and goes down. Saddened, and perhaps gripped with the all too human morbid fascination of watching the accident replay again and again, but not surprised.

Yesterday, I found myself immersed in the Nordic combined, an event in which an American (to the best of my understanding) had never won a medal. This is an event that begins with a ski jump and start times for the continuation are taken from that. There were three Americans 1-2-3 in the cross-country portion for the longest time with a fourth gaining ground little by little to try and join the front pack of eight or so.

Ordinarily I would never watch such an event, but the novelty of three (and possibly even four) Americans being in the hunt was quite thrilling. I am not big on medal count. I am much more into personal stories, such as the one of the young man who came in third the other day in speed skating. Such courage and determination! And, an interesting side note to this story was that his doctor was Don Jansen* (???), the former speed skater who won (five, was it?) gold medals himself in the sport.

[*Was it Don Jansen, or was it Eric Hayden? I'll have to pay attention the next time his name is mentioned so I can come back and correct this portion. Sorry about that. I'm terrible with names. Just terrible!]

Anyway, getting back to the Nordic combined - and I think there's another, longer version, scheduled for later on in the Olympics (I might just have to watch some of that!) - it was exciting all the way to the finish. All the way! One of the Americans did medal, altho it wasn't the one who had led all the way. He finished just out of the medal picture. It was truly a sprint to the finish. A fellow from France, I think, won the event. All three of the medalists collapsed immediately after they crossed the finish line. Immediately!

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and NBC had a lot of wonderful little tidbits to share with us in honor of the event, but the one that most caught my attention was that of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, the Chinese husband and wife team who are entered in the pairs skating.

They have been skating together for 18 (!) years. A few years ago, he suffered what most would have thought to be a career-ending injury ... a "ruptured" (I think the term was) Achilles tendon. She was one of his mainstays during his recuperative period, and their relationship blossomed and deepened into marriage.

I watched them skate the short program last night. Flawless, to my (really) uninformed eye. To the judges', as well, because their score set a new record for the short program. However - there always seems to be a however, doesn't there? - the judges also found favor with some of the other competitors, and tonight's long program should see a near-record number of viewers, of which I'll be one.

I'll be rooting for China to win the gold in this event. How about you?

How the mighty have fallen

2010-02-10T14:50:00.009-06:00

I am of the age when, years and years ago, Japanese auto manufacturers first came out with compact cars and were laughed at (for the most part, to my recollection).

It was only in the mid-80's, when I had become convinced their cars were among the best, that I purchased a Honda Civic wagon. It was perfect for my art business, and I took more than one trip to Big Bend National Park in it - "camping out", as it were, in the back. (Everything folded flat except for the driver's seat.)

Wonderful car! 40mpg, no matter what kind of roads you were on or how fast you were going, it seemed, and finding a parking spot was a breeze. Maintenance? Laughable. As long as you kept up with the grease and oil changes and drove it on a regular basis, there wasn't any!

It has been many years since I last owned a Japanese-made vehicle ... for quite some time, after I first started driving a taxicab, foreign-made vehicles were not allowed to be put "on line" as taxicabs ... and so I really had not kept up with what Consumer Reports had to say - or anyone else, for that matter!

I do know that foreign-made vehicles are now - and have been for quite some time - allowed to be put online as taxicabs. Don't remember when that changed, exactly. By the time it did, I was into Chevies ... in particular, the Caprice (until the manufacturing plant was changed over to make more trucks, doncha know - we're in Texas!) and then the Lumina.

Did it change because "foreign-made" vehicles are not always entirely manufactured in their own country? Did it change because this country - the USA - now makes some Japanese cars? I don't know. I'm just throwing out questions. However, I distinctly remember a time when - if you purchased a Japanese-made car - you were assured (at least I was!) that it was 100% up to speck and there were (and would be) no problems. At least, none of an immediate nature, such as floor mats, gas and brake pedals. Brake pedals????? Heaven forbid such a thing!

Just thinking out loud here, but the news - what little I've heard and paid attention to recently - has me wondering.

The Regional ... ... #2

2010-02-10T08:15:00.009-06:00

Yesterday I read through the long, long list of winners in the Regional duplicate bridge tournament just completed.

[I'd have published this earlier, but the ACBL's office in Memphis was closed due to inclement weather. Nothing like what DC has been experiencing, but .. .. .. everything seems to be 'up and running' now.]

It was fun reading. Saw some names towards the bottom of the list who should have been much closer to the top (imo) and names at the top who had no business being there. LOL

It took a while to read through the list of winners. We had a successful tournament, attendance-wise. Over 3,000 tables total. Reading through the list made me realize how many very good bridge players we have here in the Houston area. We have a Unit that is alive, vibrant, strong and moving ahead in all directions ... membership, public relations and attracting new players to the game of bridge.

From the little bit of time I spent at the tournament, I thought it went very smoothly and showed the positive results of many hours of hard work and organization by co-chairs Pat Levy and Paul Cuneo, who were ably supported by a hundred or more volunteers both before and during the tournament itself.

I was particularly impressed by the streamlined way in which the meal was served between sessions Sunday. Not only were there no lines - boxed lunches - but the sandwiches with extra-fresh bread were delicious! I felt myself starting to sag a bit afterwards, tho, - I like to take naps after I eat - but I made it through just fine.

I played in two side games on Thursday and Friday evenings with pickup partners and placed both times .. section top in the first one and second on Friday. I hadn't intended to play two sessions, but I noticed - when looking at the results online the next day, that my points for a section top would be gold if I played more than one session in the same event. Don't need any points - gold or otherwise - but I thought, "What the hey!"

There were fifteen side games all told ... five each morning, afternoon and evening (Tuesday through Saturday), and you had to play in two of the five to qualify for the overalls or get gold points if you received a section top. Unfortunately, the second fact was not made known ahead of time nor during the tournament itself unless you happened to read about it online. One of my students, who just needs gold points to qualify for Life Master status, played in only one of the sessions. She got a section top, but no gold because she didn't play in a second session. She would have adjusted her schedule accordingly had she known, I'll betcha. I didn't realize what had happened until I saw her Sunday, and by then it was too late to do anything about it.

My pickup partners did not seem to be affected by my (what appeared to be a) contagious disease, that of revoking. I wasn't the one doing the revoking. No, no, it was my regular partners! SIX revokes !!! altogether, two of which were very costly.

[For those of you non-bridge players, a revoke is the term given when you do not play a card of the suit led. For example, a diamond is led and you play a spade. If it turns out that you had a diamond and didn't play it, that is called a revoke. Where this can become very costly is that -- in addition to perhaps losing a trick or two (depending on who won the revoking trick and how many tricks were won subsequently) -- the card played (in this case a spade) remains on the table face up as a major penalty card and must be played at the first opportunity. If revoker's partner happens to get on lead, then declarer has other options. The upshot of this whole thing? Don't revoke!

Btw, a revoke is impossible when you're playing BBO ... the programming simply will not allow it. That's why, when a diamond was led (above), I asked, "No diamonds, partner?" By then, tho, it was too late. A spade had already hit the table. No trick penalties on this, but possible lead penalties, as you have already read.]

One really funny story about one of my partners' revokes. I think it was the last one of the tournament. The card inadvertently played - and therefore a major penalty card - was the deuce of hearts. It sat there on the table until partner won a trick and had to lead. Out came the offending deuce, which won the trick. I think that's hilarious! Don't recall ever hearing another revoke story quite like that one.

Well, that's all from the tournament. Had a lot of fun, as always.

Super Bowl thoughts

2010-02-08T14:16:00.002-06:00

Polimom -among many others, I'm sure - is an avid Saints' fan, but as of this writing ... 2 pm on Monday, February 8, 2010 ... she has posted not one single word about the game yesterday. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's THAT all about? Is she in a comatose state after their win? Is she ill? Is AC or someone else in her family ill, had an accident, or in the hospital? Has my son-in-law forbidden her from publicly crowing and screaming to the skies, "YESSS!" What's going on there, anyway??

Her lack of saying anything, particularly considering her last post in re the Saints in the playoff picture, has me nonplussed.

Did any of you watch? My sessions in the Regional tournament ended well before game time and I could have taken in the whole thing, starting with the kickoff, but I had some errands to run beforehand and then Stargate SG-1 came on.

However, I want all y'all to know that I was listening on the radio when the Colts were held - on their opening drive - to a field goal. I called Polimom and said, "I think that's a good sign." She agreed.

I called again after some extensive shopping, said I was on my way home and asked what was happening. Not too much, I was told. The Saints had been able to muster very little offense and the Colts had scored a touchdown on one of their next possessions.

By the time I got all of the groceries unloaded from the car and put away - television on the whole time, of course, so I could keep up with what was going on - I learned that the second quarter belonged almost entirely to the Saints. Hmm!

I sat down to watch for a bit. After all, SG-1 wasn't due to come on for a while yet and there'd been a time in my not that distant past when I was a football 'maniac'.

I called my son-in-law to try and tell him the Saints should have gone for the fullback up the middle when it was first and goal from the three-yard line. However, he misunderstood what I was trying to say and thought I was predicting the next play call. Noo, I wasn't.

I watched with absolute and utter glee and delight when the Saints led off the second half with an onside kick whose outcome - for several minutes, it seemed like - was undecided. I thought that was one of the funniest things I had ever seen, and hope they (my daughter and her family) were able to tape it so they could play it back again and again and again. Hilarious!

I called Polimom, who answered the phone with, "Hahahahahahaha!"

Later, during a commercial break for SG-1, I had the lucky happenstance to catch the interception that was run back for a touchdown. That was exciting!

Then today, while driving back and forth from the eye doctor appointment, I had sports talk radio on. Interesting, the comments. They varied greatly, depending on whether or not the caller was a Saints' or Colts' fan, as you might imagine.

What about you? Did you watch?

Poignancy

2010-02-02T12:40:00.004-06:00

I have often heard it said that the dictionary defines one big word with another. In many cases, that seems to be true. It's no different with the word "poignancy", which is defined in my book as "the quality or state of being poignant". Rrvit! And then, of course, I had to look up "poignant" ... "deeply affecting the feelings".

There's really no one word that can adequately describe how one feels when a member of the family dies, one you have lived with and loved for many years. Poignant is as good a word as any, I guess.

Yesterday morning, Polimom wrote a beautiful post about the loss in her family. It moved me deeply. I was going to publish this in response before I left to play in the tournament, but I got caught up in reading some of my previous posts - the ones where I spoke of my love for cats - and there just wasn't enough time left to do it justice.

Why am I speaking of my love for cats? Polimom lost a member of her family!

Well, it wasn't a person who died. It was Pounce, her beloved cat. Cancer took him. I couldn't believe how fast he went! A really good thing. And he died where he knew people loved him. Polimom didn't have to undergo the horrendousness of taking him to the vet to be 'put down', thank goodness.

[She and I spent the better part of an hour in the late afternoon talking about him, about the other pets in the family and pets in general, and about feelings. I figured she needed the emotional outlet and was glad I was there to provide it.]

To honor Pounce - and especially in memory of my own Serendipity, who died fifteen years ago this Valentine's Day - I'd like to re-publish a poem I wrote for her that dreadful evening when I came home and discovered that she had somehow managed, in her terribly weakened state, to climb up onto my bed before she took her last breath.

My Valentine

Words cannot begin to describe how I feel
Now that my pretty one's insides have begun to congeal.

I cannot stop petting her -- her fur is still so soft
I suppose I'll continue to find fleas until summer -- even in the loft.

I hated to leave her this morning ... she wanted to lay in the doorway -- ajar
(I guess) so she could see what she had (seems like just yesterday) chased from afar.

Queen of the fence, rooftop, trees
She went exactly as she pleased!

Now my lovely has died on my bed, her head near my pillow, her mouth open, quite dead.

I don't want her to awaken ... there must have been pain
I wouldn't want her to have to go through all that again.

Tears shed on my bed. I've dug the hole, but will have to make it deeper ...
Can't stand the thought of yukky bugs and God knows what all getting at my beautiful sleeper.

Oh, Serendipity! My unexpected pleasure!
You were such a wonderful treasure!

The above poem was written the evening Serendipity died and was first published on this blogsite here, almost two years ago. I couldn't stop crying until I wrote it. It made me feel a little better to get all of my raw feelings down on paper. I imagine, if I'd been blogging way back then in 1995, I'd have written about it.

Anyway, perhaps - for those of you who have experienced similar losses - this post will help alleviate your pain. Hugs, Polimom!

The Regional ... ... #1

2010-02-01T19:00:00.007-06:00

... starts this evening at the Adams Mark Hotel.

How does one ever get it past their head that the Adams Mark is no longer the Adams Mark? (And hasn't been for a number of years.) It is now one of 89 gazillion billion Marriott Hotels worldwide. Never you mind. It will ALWAYS be the Adams Mark to me!

It's just up the street from here. What this actually means, in "Houston-speak", is that it is 'just around the corner', which could be anywhere from 1/2 block to a mile (or two or three or four - maybe even more). Teehee!

From my house to there, I go up to Beechnut, catch the Beltway heading north, exit Westheimer and I'm there. Well, almost. No more than ten minutes max (normal conditions).

Edna and I had our 'practice game' for Sunday's Swiss team session earlier today at Tracy Gee Community Center, which is just a touch closer to me than the hotel I was talking about. We had a very nice game ... not humongous, but nice. A few things came up that were worthy of discussion, and I'm feeling quite comfortable about our game.

Watching a former student's progression through the years can be almost as exhilarating and satisfying as watching your own child's. Geez, I hope we do well on Sunday! They - my former students - always seem so nervous when they play with me. Almost like they're expecting impossible things of themselves because they're playing with their teacher.

I've asked them - time after time after time - why they seem so nervous when they're playing with me. I always get the same answer, "Because you're our teacher."

Well, shuckeydurn and tarnation, anyway! I don't know what I can do about that other than try to play my very best and not make a mistake. (I always try and do that when I'm playing with a student - former or current - or mentee, but I'm not perfect. I'm not one of the 'big time pros' nor a robot. I make mistakes. I just try not to make any when I'm playing with them!)

Please wish us luck on Sunday?

Now, in re other events for the Regional, Julian and I will be playing tomorrow afternoon. Actually, it'll be round #3 of a knockout event, but Bill Breslin (Julian's regular partner) can't make the afternoon session, so I'm a replacement. Hopefully, their team will still be "in" the event and I can hold up my end of the bargain and help them carry on to the finals.

Friday night, Julian and I are scheduled to play in a "midnight Swiss" .. .. so-called because this event used to start around midnight. However, with earlier start times for the regular games, it's now advertised as starting at 10:30.

This brings to mind "pajama games", which were notorious at Galveston sectional tournaments in the 70's. My, my! I remember 'pajama games' there when, if you were in the lobby of the hotel just minding your own business, you could be pressed into service and be part of a hand where dealer bid, you sat on dealer's lap, someone else played the hand and you tried your best to sort your cards and follow suit. (Exaggerating only slightly here. Ask Jolie ... she'll tell you!).

That's all I have scheduled. I imagine, however, that when I show up tomorrow afternoon, someone will ask me whatall else I have going and would I be available for thus and so?

We'll see. Meanwhile, you have my schedule as of 7pm Monday, February 1st, 2010.

The Pro Bowl

2010-01-31T12:05:00.002-06:00

Will anyone be watching this evening? It'll be on ESPN. Cable, which I don't have. Not that it makes much difference. I doubt I would be giving it much viewing time, anyway, except perhaps for an occasional glimpse.

[Masterpiece Classic - PBS - takes precedence one of those hours. They're showing part two of a 3-part series on "Emma" tonight. Then, the next hour will see me watching Stargate SG-1. Anyone like that series? It's one of my favorites. Channel 2.2 (local) is rerunning two episodes every Sunday evening. In addition to several of the main characters - not the least of which is Amanda Tapping - continuing to hold my interest, I think Richard Dean Anderson is a "hunk".]

It has been many years since I watched a Pro Bowl game. To give you some idea of how long it's been, I guess the last time was when Warren Moon was playing in it. He was selected to play in that game nine times, the first in 1988 ... I would have watched that one, for sure!

Back then, Jerry Glanville was the Oilers' head coach. Jerry and I both attended Northern Michigan University as undergraduates. We never met personally while in college (I was a few years his senior), but the two of us sure did have a lot of fun talking about 'the good old days' when he was here in Houston. At that time, I was an avid member of the Oilers' booster club and never missed a meeting if I could help it.

[The Oilers lost me permanently as a fan when Jerry was fired, but that's a whole nuther story. I'll tell you about it sometime, if I remember - and am in the mood - to do so.]

I had the opportunity to meet and get to know - just a little bit - Warren's wife, Felicia. We attended some of the same events. (I was still in the art business, altho it was waning.) A lovely, lovely person, both visually and personality-wise. I liked her very much.

But - as usual - I digress. Back to football.

In re-reading some of Warren's biography in Wiki, I noticed prominent mention of the 1992 playoff game against the Buffalo Bills. That's the infamous (or famous, depending on whether or not you're a Bills' fan) one, where the Oilers had a second half collapse of unprecedented proportions.

There was a really good story that made the rounds here in Houston after that game. Lots of good stories made the rounds, but this one sticks in my memory banks. It seems there was this fellow whose wife had been nagging at him for a couple of weeks to mow the lawn. That particular day, the weather was absolutely beautiful here in Houston. He really had no excuse other than the Oilers-Bills playoff game. Well, we know what he did, don't we? He watched the game. At least, the first half, after which he decided - the Oilers were then up by a score of 35-3 - that the rest of the game would go the Oilers' way, as well, and went outside to mow the lawn and try to please his wife and keep some peace in the family. I don't know if he has since stopped blaming himself for their loss or not.

Well, that's about it for my thoughts on the Pro Bowl. I don't even know who is playing in it this year. Do you?

My son-in-law is of the opinion that, as the 'powers that be' scheduled that game in the week between the end of the playoffs and the Super Bowl, they were trying to drum up more interest in the Pro Bowl.

Did it work for you? Will you be watching?

Ultrasound ... ...

2010-01-29T12:50:00.005-06:00

... has been in existence for over 50 years, supposedly. Just tried to looked up the exact date of its arrival in medicine, but was unable to find it. However, I didn't try very hard ... just gave Wiki a quick gander. The date is really not important for purposes of this post.

I was doing something this morning I hadn't done in quite a while, it seems to me ... reading others' posts, chuckling here and commenting there, when I came across this one that Bug published Wednesday.

She enjoys doing these Random Dozen Memes, and usually I find at least one that provokes further thought from me. This week was no exception.

Check out #7 ... "Did you wait to discover the gender of your unborn child until its birth?" Well, as Bug has no children, it was a "N/A" for her, but she did go on to venture her opinion (always interesting), which got me to thinking about when I was pregnant going on fifty years ago.

Ultrasound was brand new then, and my husband and I discussed it. We both were of the opinion, we said, that we simply wanted a healthy child. We didn't really care what sex it was, just as long as it had ten fingers and toes .. you know, all the 'normal' stuff.

[Back then, what sex your child would be was guesswork, for the most part. If you carried the baby high, it would be a boy, or was it the other way around? I forget. If your families had a history of boy babies, chances were .. .. etc., etc. You know how that goes. One thing I remember for sure is that I had a wonderful built-in little table top to hold a saucer with a cup of coffee on it!]

Deep down, I'm pretty sure I was hoping for a boy. I wanted a little boy who would look exactly like my husband, only a much smaller version, of course. Rrvit! We were going to name him "Mark Paul" in honor of two of my favorite students. My husband didn't want a baby to be named after him. That would have made the child a "III" and he didn't want to be any part of that.

My doctor knew what I wanted. My husband knew what I wanted. I thought I knew what I wanted, but when our little girl was delivered and the doctor told me what it was, I exclaimed, "Oh, I'm so glad!"

Isn't it funny how - in a split second - our minds can change? So completely unexpected.

I had a lot of fun, particularly in the early years, making matching outfits for us and playing dressup. I was so glad we'd had a girl! And it's been even more fun, as the years have progressed, watching her develop into a mature and caring person. I wouldn't change a thing.

Btw, Bug's other Random Dozen Memes are equally interesting. Check out this one. I hope to meet her in person if I travel north later this year.

The little white lie

2010-01-27T18:00:00.002-06:00

This next story, while quite believable and probably based on actual events, has had all church names, people's names and town names removed to protect the 'innocent'. It's one of the funniest stories I have ever heard .. hope you enjoy it!

It seems that Abigail was supposed to provide a cake for her church's bake sale, but forgot all about it until the last minute. She remembered it the morning of the sale, and found an angel food cake mix in her pantry that she quickly made up and put in the oven to bake while she was washing and drying her hair, dressing and helping her son pack up for Scout camp.

When she took the cake from the oven, she discovered that the center had dropped flat and the cake was horribly disfigured. "Oh, dear!" she exclaimed. There wasn't time to bake another cake, and she had so wanted to fit in with her new church community. She had promised she would bring a cake. What was she going to do?

She looked around the house to find something that might be used as a "filler" for the cake's collapsed center. She settled on a roll of toilet paper that - after the icing had been applied - made the cake presentable. Very presentable, in fact!

Before taking the cake over to the church on her way to work, however, she woke up her daughter to tell her what had happened. "Doris," she said, "you must get over to the church the minute the bake sale opens, buy this cake and bring it home. That way, no one will ever know the difference."

A few hours later, Doris called her mother at work to tell her that - even tho she had arrived at the bake sale right when it opened, someone had been in before her and bought the cake.

Oh, dear! Now what to do? There was nothing for it but to just wait until the worst happened. Abigail would be the laughing stock. She was so ashamed!

After a sleepless night tossing and turning, she decided to go ahead and attend a bridal shower/luncheon the next day that she had already RSVPed to rather than just hide away. She really didn't want to go, because the hostess had always kind of thumbed her nose at her .. "Not of the founding families, a single parent," etc. .. but went anyway.

The meal was elegant and the company was definitely "old South upper crust". To her horror, however, the cake in question was presented for dessert. Abigail felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake and was rising from her feet to tell the hostess about it when the mayor's wife exclaimed, "What a beautiful cake!"

She sat back down when the hostess beamed and said, "Thank you! I made it myself."

"God is good," she thought. "Thank you, Lord."

This story courtesy of our friend Jennie. Thank you, Jennie!

The locksmith ... ...

2010-01-27T17:00:00.010-06:00

... has come and gone. (Arrived almost two hours after he was originally scheduled. It seems he had to break into a car way up on the north side of town and then fight heavy traffic to get over here in the far southwest.)

While we were waiting, my daughter and I did a walkthrough of whatall *I* wanted him to look at and then we came in here to take a look at the printer. It's making dirty-looking copies. Just recently started that routine.

She tried every which way she knew how to get it to make clean ones, but it was a no go. The upshot of this whole story is that she took the printer with her. My son-in-law will take a look at it, but she thinks he'll end up taking it to a professional. More later, if and when.

But getting back to the locksmith ... boy, I think we got a really good one. An amusing incident occurred when he first came into the house, tho. (I must add that it's only amusing if you have a really weird sense of humor, which I have.)

Those of you who have read my blog more than just a few times know how far down the list housekeeping chores are. In fact, they're so far down the list they don't even make the list, ok? I would rather brush my teeth, go to the bathroom, sit out on the back patio and walk the dog (I don't have a dog) rather than dust or scrub ANYthing!

And as for filing? Give me a break, will you please? Filing??? What the devil's THAT?!?

[Kind of a funny side story here. Julian Barr and I play duplicate bridge fairly regularly. He NEVER remembers our card and a few times - except for the most recent one - I was unable to find ours, which seemed to tick him off. ("Well, tuff titties," as my mother would have said. If he was that ticked, he should have brought HIS, right?) Anyway, when we played Sunday evening I brought our card with me. Guess where I found it? I had filed it, and in the proper place! LOL]

But getting back to the 'amusing incident' with the locksmith. When he came in the front door, he took one look around and asked, "Recycling?" Rrvit! My daughter ignored the question and quickly took him on the tour, showing him the problems that existed.

ALL outside doors, including the garage door - which I recently described in one of my posts as having a mind of its own and coming open whenever it felt like doing so, were in need of attention. However, it was my opinion that nothing could be done about ANY of them w/o incurring major - and I do mean major - reconstruction costs. (The house is coming ever closer, inch by inch, to falling down around me. Think that's a fairly true statement.) Hence the *I* in the second paragraph above.

I had already given my roflol (altho I used different lettering) opinions to my family, trying to get all of the sardonic laughter out of my system before said locksmith arrived, and - I might add - was surprisingly successful.

To make a long story shorter, and without going into whatall is wrong with my house - quite a 'downer', actually, so I'll not bore all y'all with it, I will just say that we had a locksmith extraordinaire. He thinks what he was able to accomplish will 'hold' for the next few months, until I'm out of here. Good news.

Not so good news is that while my daughter and I were sitting out on the patio visiting, my next door neighbor came over to tell me that he is leaving Houston next week. He has sold everything and is relocating back to Florida. While I am not terribly fond of my neighbor, that means I'll have a vacant house next door. He said he's having trouble finding a realtor who will even list the place! Gives you a little better idea of what has happened to this neighborhood, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, I'm sitting here unafraid. Really and truly. I don't like some of the things that have been happening and the direction in which they seem to be going, but I've never been one to sit around shaking in my boots.

I thought more than once that I should have a weapon, but just can't bring myself around to purchasing one. A couple of questions present themselves. 1) Would I use it? Probably yes, if I felt that my life was in danger. 2) Where would I keep it? On my body? That question is almost unanswerable. I need a Clint Eastwood-type around. Any volunteers?

A matter of interpretation, I guess ... ... followup

2010-01-24T16:00:00.001-06:00

Any of you remember this post? It's from last August, and provoked a lot of thoughts and comments.

I bring it up today because I recently received the most wonderful comment on it from the author of the obituary, the deceased's daughter, Robin Cash.

Actually, Robin sent her comment many days ago, but it was relegated to Zone Alarm's trash bin and I just read it yesterday.

Thank you SO much, Robin, for your extensive comment. I thought the obituary of your mother described a woman who loved life ... absolutely loved it! I just wish I could have remembered her.

It's so sad how her mind was affected in her later years. My father's memory -- and his first love was defense -- was beginning to go, as well, in his declining years. The worst part of the whole thing was that he knew it! It's one of life's more cruel 'jokes', isn't it?

Those of you who remember that post and the controversy that followed might be interested in reading Robin's comment. Just click onto the "comment" section and scroll down until you see hers.

Just call me Raymonda

2010-01-24T13:00:00.000-06:00

Years and years ago ... I guess it would have been here in Houston ... Mom and Dad were visiting and there was a bridge tournament going on. Probably a Regional, like we've got coming up in another week or two.

In those days, Men's Pairs and Women's Pairs were scheduled as two of the events, both occurring on the same day (two sessions). Mom and I, I think, were going to be playing in the Women's, but Dad was still looking for a partner for the Men's when it came to be game time and he had not been unsuccessful.

And so, he was planning to kibitz in the Men's Pairs when over the loudspeaker came the announcement, "We need a woman to complete the Women's Pairs. Our expense." Silence in the room as everyone looked around, expecting a woman to walk on up to the Director's desk and offer her services.

No one did. Finally, the director asked, "ANYone??" My dad went up to say he was available, but there was no way he could ever be considered a woman. LOL

He was pressed into 'duty' and for two sessions he was met with looks of surprise and more than a few grins. He had a lot of fun with it. Even borrowed someone's scarf, as I remember, and would introduce himself at each new table with, "Just call me Raymonda." (His name was Raymond.)

I hadn't thought about this in YEARS, but today was reminded of it when - in cruising BBO tables for people looking for partners - I came across one person who stated, most emphatically, "NO WOMEN" ... rrvit!

Changing computers

2010-01-23T11:30:00.005-06:00

For Christmas just passed, I got a new computer from my daughter and her husband. My old one was on its last legs, but I was babying it along .. babying it along .. babying it along ... ... you know how that goes, right?

Well, this new one I have can do all sorts of things that theirs cannot and is almost faster than a bolt of lightning, but .. big "but" here .. you know what else it will do? (And I didn't discover this until yesterday.) It will relegate any and all comments on "Goldenrod's thoughts" to a Zone Alarm trash bin, which I didn't even know existed!

[Btw, Tammy. Your personal e-mail to me of the 19th ended up in that trash bin, as well. If I'd received it via regular channels, you can betcher sweet bippy that I never would have ignored it!]

My my! And so, when I have been tardy or even completely lacking in responding to your comments, that's the reason why. My son-in-law thought he fixed the problem yesterday, but I see I'm still getting e-mails in that trash bin .. most of them junk, I've noticed, but .. oh, well.

Meanwhile, I'll be going through your comments and responding. Playing catchup, as it were. I'll be interested to see if anyone responds to THIS post .. .. AND, if I get notification via regular e-mail, as is supposed to happen, or if the comments still get relegated to Zone Alarm's trash bin.

Hopefully, we'll get all of the bugs worked out of the system ... eventually. It's all in the setup, I'm pretty sure.

It's been a while ...

2010-01-16T14:30:00.002-06:00

... since I posted. Where have I been and what have I been doing, anyway? Well, I've been here. Doing a lot of sleeping, some bridge-playing online, but no posting.

Why not? Well, I really can't answer that with any great amount of accuracy. Every time I get in here, I go to BridgeBase (after first checking my e-mails) and then that kind of shoots my day - or interrupts it a whole bunch, let's say.

Sometimes I'll lay in bed thinking of something I could say that you might be interested in, but then usually I'll turn over, go back to sleep and it's mostly gone later. Kind of like the other day, when I was thinking about Kris Kristofferson, only this one I remember.

Why Kris Kristofferson? Well, I happened to catch a VERY mediocre movie recently that he starred in (playing one of the bad guys) ... Jan-Michael Vincent played his brother (one of the good guys). A most unlikely brother combination, wouldn't you say? I only watched it to the end because I wanted to see Kris "get his" and wasn't disappointed.

During the movie I found myself comparing their heights. Why that? Well, I had a chance meeting with Mr. Kristofferson in Nashville many years ago. I was there in my capacity as Marketing Manager for Kirby Building Systems, and was strolling the hotel during a few free minutes. There was a fountain in the main lobby and there he was, sitting beside it, all by his lonesome.

I thought, "Neat!" Went over, all smiles, and was all set to shake his hand when he rose and I realized that he was shorter than I. !?! The next words out of my mouth were, "My goodness, you're short!" Wouldn't you just know it? Out they popped before I had any idea they were going to be said aloud.

Well, he didn't take very kindly to that remark, said something rude and we went our separate ways. Rrvit!

So, anyway, I was kind of interested in seeing how Jan-Michael's height compared. He is perhaps an inch or two taller than Kris - this just in case you were the least bit curious, making him about my height. Another piece of useless trivia for you.

And then, of course, I got to thinking about Alan Ladd ... ... I'd always heard that he had to stand on a box to be tall enough for kissing closeups with his female co-stars. I guess I have kind of a "thing" about always wondering now how tall the person really is, what the newscaster is wearing underneath the table (or out of camera range), stuff like that. I'm a little weird that way.

Speaking of movies, I'm to be treated later this afternoon to the 1968 film version of "Heidi" ... ... this is the one starring Michael Redgrave as the grandfather, Maximilian Schell as the injured girl's father, Jean Simmons as the governess and Walter Slezak as Father Richter. Wonderful, wonderful!

Have a few outside errands to do and it's going on 2pm now. I'll have to leave the house shortly so I don't miss a single moment. It's coming on at 4pm. (This movie is showing on one of the local religious channels. No commercials.) I need to make a couple/three different stops ... the main one at Randall's. Have to pick up a bunch more of "Harvest Peach" - the Yoplait yogurt flavor that I've recently become addicted to, a couple of their absolutely delicious "melt in your mouth" blueberry muffins that I positively cannot eat in one sitting but they keep beautifully, perhaps another Xword magazine, some chicken tenders ... that's about it for Randall's, and then it's on to Luby's to get some of their wonderful spinach salad to go. I might even make another stop for another salad to go. We'll see how my time goes.

I haven't been outside much. It's been cold (for us) most of the month. In fact, all of my very large tropical plants that have been outside ever since I've lived here are now deader than the proverbial doornail. I'll have to hire someone to clean out the back yard come warmer weather. I don't have the strength for it anymore.

Talking about back yards, I have always been of the opinion that one does not go into another's back yard without being invited. Now, when my neighbor trespassed into my back yard last month to alert me that both our garages had been broken into, that was understandable. I didn't like it much, but I understood it.

More recently, I was even less pleased when a member of our homeowner's association left a notice at my back door. Then, a couple of days later, same person (I'm assuming) kept pounding on my back door to see if I had received it and to try and get me to sign some sort of petition he was circulating.

To say that I am ticked would be putting it mildly. I shared all of this with my family when I was out in Katy recently. They didn't like it, either. Not sure what we're going to do about it at this point. Relations between the homeowner's association and myself have been, shall we say, somewhat strained for years and these latest incidents have not helped matters.

Don't be too surprised if I leave this area sometime later this year. Never thought I'd say that. I've lived in this house since the late 70's, and thought I'd be here the rest of my life, but .. .. things change, circumstances change. I think I might be ready to go.

Beth's latest - newly-revised - scheduled return to Houston is Monday. We're both hopeful that she can finally leave the Arctic Circle and get back to where she can go outside without having to first spend several minutes bundling up. I'll be picking her up at IAH just before 1pm. Don't know if she'll be too tired to stop in Kemah 'on the way' back to her home or not. I'm positive she'll be hungry, but tired will be another matter.

Speaking of Kemah, there was a fire at one of the restaurants over there yesterday. Not the one we usually go to, thank goodness. (Not that a fire anywhere is a good thing. I'm just glad it wasn't at 'our' restaurant.)

Have to go, folks. Hope all of you are well, safe and warm. Can't say when I'll be posting again, but - hopefully - the interim will be of shorter duration. Noticed earlier that I have lost a subscriber. Oh, well. Not surprising, eh what?

Picking up at the airport

2010-01-02T12:30:00.002-06:00

I spent nearly eighteen years as a taxicab driver picking personal customers up from both airports. The procedure was always the same. I arrived early and filled out a personal customer pickup form ... airline, flight #, ETA, customer's name, my name and cab number, etc. Then I waited at a staging area nearby - never at the terminal - with the airport radio on to hear my cab number announced, that the customer was waiting.

Often my customers would call me from their cell phone as they were on their way out of the terminal. That way, less time would be lost waiting for me to arrive after they gave my cab number to the starter. It was a nearly fail safe procedure.

I say 'nearly' because twice during those years a potential personal customer forgot I would be picking them up and hopped in the first taxicab at the stand, leaving me sitting at the staging area waiting for someone who was never going to arrive and ask for me. Aargh!

This past Monday evening, I was scheduled to pick Joanne back up at Hobby. It was to be a late pickup, at best (a 10:45pm arrival), but I was all prepared. Had taken a nap in preparation for the late hour and was ready for potential delays due to weather or her connecting flight in Chicago having to wait for incoming flights from elsewhere.

Sure enough, both things happened, which was not surprising. Joanne hadn't called me from Chicago, tho, so I assumed she was on the delayed flight and I arrived at Hobby in plenty of time - now going on 11:30pm - and sat in a lot nearby to wait for her call.

None came. I waited some more. No call. Hmm! I called the airline again, expecting to hear that the flight was due to land 'any minute', only to learn that the flight had landed successfully almost 45 minutes earlier! What the devil?

I cruised on up to the terminal and drove very slowly past all of the exits. No Joanne. In fact, almost no people at all! The regulations at both airports do not allow unattended personal vehicles at the terminals, so I really didn't see how I could park the car even momentarily just to dash inside and see if Joanne was still waiting for her luggage, being attended to, or ... ... I could imagine all sorts of various scenarios.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't have her cell phone number with me, so called her home phone on the off chance that she was there, that we had somehow missed each other. Left a worried-type message on her voice mail

I decided to wait just a few more minutes and then go home. I mean, it was stupid to wait for someone who wasn't going to be coming in! By that time, I was in a small line of cars that were waiting for a flight coming in from Vegas. It was now going on 12:30am.

Just then my cell phone rang. I answered. It was Joanne. I asked, "Where are you?" "I'm at Hobby," she said. "Well, I'm at the terminal. Do you have your luggage? Are you all right? I'm been so worried!"

[In this post, I talked about taking Joanne to the airport and how we always had to get there early because of the amount of steel in her body, remember? And then, just a few days later, I was rejoicing over the 'fact' that my customers had made it to the airports on time and trouble-free. Well, Joanne missed her flight out. How did that happen? It seems she set off so many metal detectors that she kept getting delayed having to wait for another official inspector, and then .. .. when she was finally cleared to go, it was too late. Ugh!]

There were no such complications due to metal detectors and having to wait for official inspectors on her return to Houston. The delay at Hobby arose from Joanne having written my cell phone number down wrong - in two different places! She hesitated calling this wrong number yet once again and asking the very tired-sounding fellow who answered to once more verify the digits of his phone number, but was about to do so when she remembered that she had packed her address and phone directory in one of her pieces of luggage.

This sort of thing would never have happened if I'd been a cab driver. She still wouldn't have been able to call me (wrong #), but she could have walked to the cab stand and asked for me by cab number. If, for some reason, she had forgotten my cab number, the starter would have asked for her name and we'd have gotten together - eventually. (Now, if for some reason she'd forgotten her name .. .. well, we both would have been in trouble!)

[Also, the starter would have allowed me to leave the cab and walk into the terminal to briefly check on Joanne's whereabouts.]

I'm due to pick Beth up at IAH either Wednesday or Thursday. This pickup is very much up in the air. She's due to helicopter to Prudhoe Bay Monday - she is at Point Thompson, Alaska - and fly back to Anchorage on Tuesday, but weather conditions are very much a factor with this one.

I just now received an e-mail from her describing blizzard conditions. Yesterday, all operations were on shut down .. no flights, no drilling. She sent me a couple of pictures of the area, and I've tried to transfer them for you but I've got this new computer and things just don't work the same way. Anyway, you can find some info on this remote Arctic Ocean location here.

Says she'll be glad to get back home and be off for a few days. Perhaps she'll even take a few photos. (?) It's so cold there that the shutter can't be worked with heavy gloves on and - if you try to go bare-handed, your fingers quickly become frozen. Imagine she'll have lots of stories to share. I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

Anyhoo, a somewhat belated Happy New Year to you all. Julian and I played bridge New Year's Eve and were a little above average. We each made a couple of costly errors, but I had a good time - as always.

Is it Christmas yet?

2009-12-27T12:05:00.000-06:00

Early Wednesday evening I posted Mannheim Steamroller's "Silent Night" as my introduction to this year's favorite Christmas music. Nothing since. What happened?

Well, we had a pretty good-sized 'norther' come in during the wee hours Thursday morning. What was kind of weird with this one is that tornado warnings started being posted shortly after I published my last entry. They think it might have been a lightning strike that knocked out a big chunk of power at Hobby Airport and camera shots showing the hundreds of people waiting in humongous lines outside the terminal to be checked in were more proof positive that traveling during the holidays is perilous and fraught with risk and made me shake my head at their frustration and concern at the distinct possibility of not being able to get to their destinations on time.

Thank goodness those that I drove to either airport experienced no such delays, but you never know about the returns. I have one scheduled to come back in to Hobby Monday evening (late, with a Chicago connection) and another next week. Hopefully, their return schedules will be as delay-free.

Thursday afternoon I decided that I had to make one more Randall's stop. I hadn't found the 'perfect' Christmas card for my granddaughter. Had one that I really liked for the whole family, but wanted one really special for her. This year my granddaughter decided to become a Christian - a 'biggie' for me, as those of you who read some of my previous posts already know - and I wanted a card that would exemplify how I felt about the combination of her new faith melding in with that of her family. Without it actually saying so, if you know what I mean. You probably don't, but it's the best I can do here. I wish I had copied down the message - I'd share it with you - but I didn't.

[I gave her three ceramic figures of the holy family that I'd had for many years, and she seemed to like them. Also, a Bible that was given to me - either when I was baptized or when I joined the church, one or the other (don't know, because the dedication page is missing) - some 60 or 65 years ago. It was in the trunk of the taxicab all the years I was driving, and is now in a very fragile state. It's the old King James version, with Jesus' words in red.]

But back to Randall's. The temperature outside was now in the very low 40's (Fahrenheit) and winds were blowing at a constant 20-30mph, gusting to 41. I didn't dress anywhere near warm enough! I was not expecting the temperature inside the store to be the same as that outside.

Initially, however, I didn't realize that fact and decided to shop for chili and fudge ingredients 'as long as I was there'. Well, it took me a whole lot longer than it should have because this particular store's layout was unfamiliar to me. I got a good chill that went right on down through my bones and - tell you the truth, have still not quite recovered from.

The rest of Christmas Eve day and all of Christmas Eve were spent with me either in bed, tossing and turning - moaning, groaning and coughing, or watching "It's a Wonderful Life" for the 89 gazillionth time. I should have sent my son-in-law an e-mail before going to bed - telling him I wasn't feeling well and to 'start without me' Christmas Day - but I didn't. Guess I didn't think I'd sleep that long.

And so, around 9am the phone rang, waking me up. I knew who it was. I lay there for a few more minutes and then got up and staggered around, trying to find the phone so I could call them back.

I did get out there eventually - early afternoon, maybe - but felt really lousy the whole day. I ached all over. I had tried to go back to bed that morning and get some more sleep, but it just didn't happen. Tossing and turning while moaning, groaning and coughing were the most I could accomplish.

All things considered, it was a nice day. Well, the best that could be expected, I should think. I tried to lay down for a nap before driving back home, but was sleepless. Just all achy. I don't want to drone on and on and on here about how I felt, but it wasn't good.

I decided to get back up after a couple of hours at the attempted nap farm - as long as I was awake, anyway - and visit with the family before starting back. My daughter was upstairs napping, my granddaughter was on her second book of the day - she skim reads, she says (probably why she couldn't tell me what the book was about when I asked her) - and my son-in-law was prowling around, having just gotten up from his nap. Thank goodness someone was getting their sleep!

When I first began writing this post, I intended to say something more about my favorite Christmas music - and possibly include another selection or two for your enjoyment, but have decided that this is enough already! [Also, I have not forgotten that I owe you another "Simon Says" for December.] And so, without further ado, I wish you and yours the very best for this Sunday, December 27, 2009.

2010 is now just around the corner. How is that possible? Later!

Favorite Christmas music - 2009 - #1

2009-12-23T19:20:00.006-06:00

We'll begin this season again with Mannheim Steamroller's exquisitely-performed "Silent Night". I can think of few other pieces of Christmas music that better epitomize this most holy of days.

[Now, for some unknown reason, the first 30 seconds or so of this recording have no sound, but it's worth the wait. I've listened to it three or four times now, and it's the same every time. What happened? I don't know.]

The violinist who performs this wonderful tune has a pureness of tone matched by very few others. Just close your eyes and be transported - as I was - a few years back when I heard this group perform live here in Houston. Here we go ... ...

Wasn't that just wonderful? More coming.

Just for grins

2009-12-23T12:30:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Chuck posted a list of the world's shortest books. I asked him if the list was original with him and he said that it was from a mass e-mail a long time ago, altho he did revise and edit it a bit. Might give you a chuckle or two ... I know it did me!

And then, just a few days later, he dug up reasons why there would be no nativity scene in Washington this year.

Now, a little further north and quite a bit east, Steven has devised a way to make it snow on his blog. Isn't that clever? For the past couple of months or so, ever since Steven changed his background and type colors, I have been unable to read, enjoy or comment much on his blog. (I think I'm the only one of his readers bothered by this. I keep checking back - every other day, maybe - hoping that I'll be able to read something that he posts, because he's got lots of good stuff to offer, but the snow sure is fun!)

Much further west - out in Idaho - and not 'just for grins', Tammy posted the results of publishing (via Blurb) her 2007 and 2008 blog entries. What a lovely idea! Has anyone else thought of doing this?

I have been remiss in posting much about Christmas. Last year at this time, I was happily listening to a lot of special music and ended up with eight posts altogether that included some of my favorites. I hope you enoyed that series. I will be listening again and posting #1 later on today.

Scattered thoughts

2009-12-22T12:30:00.003-06:00

I drove Joanne, one of my old-timey customers, to Hobby Airport this morning. Traffic was very light, as expected, and we got there in good time.

Joanne celebrated her 86th birthday last week and I wished her a belated happy birthday. She looks great, all things considered! I mean, she's got steel where most people have bones and always has to arrive at the airport early so she can get through all of the metal detectors.

She's traveling to Boston to visit her sister and family and is worried about the weather. Well, better today than last weekend, right? She's also worried about her connection coming back through Chicago. She's due to arrive back here in Houston at 10:45 pm Monday night.

Not to worry, Joanne. It is what it is and will be what it will be. She'll call me from Chicago if there are any delays or cancellations, which are not at all unlikely at this time of year, and I'll adjust my plans accordingly.

We talked nonstop all the way to the airport, as per usual. I asked her if she'd seen Celia lately - Celia's the one who initially referred Joanne to me - and she obliquely replied that they go to the same church and are members of the same band.

Well, that didn't mean she'd seen her, right? But I ignored her non-answer and chuckled over memories I had of Celia playing her banjo and in costume. Can't you just see these guys? In a banjo band? In costume? Grins stretching from ear to ear? Rrvit!

Let's see, what else? Oh yes, in an update from the story about my intrusion the other night, I have a couple of things to add. My father's fishing gear is no longer in the garage. Perhaps the thief will now go fishing instead of stealing from others?

One other thing. The thief (think there might have been only one) opened a 12-pack of diet A&W root beer - I keep them in the garage - and took a can. I find that quite amusing. Either he/she drank it all and threw the empty can in one of the paper bags I keep in the garage for such, or he/she kept drinking it while he/she made his/her escape. Anyway, I did not find an empty can littering either the garage or the yard.

The car seems to be running just fine, thank the good Lord. Years and years ago, when I was still actively working with my stamp collection, a friend and I left the church (Celia's church, as it happens) where the browse was being held and decided to go for a walk.

I didn't want to carry my purse or stamp books with me and, after quickly looking around to see if there were any "suspicious" characters hanging about, left all in the front seat and locked the door.

Does that sound stupid to you? It does to me, but only because I now have years of jaundiced experience as a taxicab driver behind me. I mean, I could see a couple sitting in a parked vehicle nearby, but thought nothing of it. Oh, my!

We returned from our very pleasant walk only to find that my car had been broken into (passenger side window smashed) and my purse taken. They left the stamps. Hmmph!

I need to put out an all points bulletin for large kleenex. I am completely out and my son-in-law, who has been very reliable in the past for procuring same, tells me that he hasn't seen any for at least a month.

Please, if you can help by pointing me in the right direction for this most wonderful product - see this post for a full description - let me know forthwith. This is an emergency! Helpp!!

An intrusion

2009-12-20T15:00:00.001-06:00

I was in here earlier today, working away at the computer - probably updating my latest post - when there was a knock at my front window. I ignored it.

A few minutes later there was a knock at my front door. I ignored it. Then the doorbell rang. I ignored that!

I could hardly believe it when, a few minutes later, there was a knock at my back door. I opened it in my disheveled and now somewhat angry state, a little ticked off at this latest unwelcome intrusion into my life, and said, "Yes? What is it??"

There stood my neighbor, who apologized for the interruption, but then went on to say how his garage had been broken into last night. He had noticed that my gate was ajar (My gate is always ajar!) and my garage door was open. (My garage door seems to have a mind of its own. It comes open when it feels like being open.)

Said I might want to check out my garage. Well, the last thing I wanted to do was check out my garage and so I put it on the back burner. The only thing out there of any value is my car. Well, almost. I've been told that my dad's fishing gear is valuable. (Do thieves bother about such things? Probably not.)

Later, after publishing my much-revised post, I ventured out to the garage and peeked at where my car should have been to see if it was still there. It was. And, it appeared to be intact.

Slowly moving closer towards the vehicle, I looked down towards the tires. Both were still there and fully-inflated. (Keep in mind that I could see only one side of the car at that point.)

I inched forward, hesitant to touch anything, but then finally decided to try and open the driver's side door. It opened too easily. Whomever was in there had not firmly closed it when they left.

I took a quick glance around inside. The glove box was agape, but what was still in there - from what I could see (had not brought a flashlight out with me, and the interior lights did not appear to be on) was what I always have in there ... insurance, registration and deposit slips for the bank. Stuff like that. That's it.

My wonderful Christmas gift from Walter Freitag, my nighttime bridge mentee, was still there - intact, altho the colorful wrap had been strewn all over the back seat - along with a couple of groceries that I had yet to bring in from the car. I think my gift from Walter might be worth a little money, but they must not have known that.

What was it they were looking for, anyway?

I got really nervous about the fact that there were no interior lights on in the car and decided to come back into the house, get the car keys and go back out to see if it started. Did they wear down the battery?

I did and it did. However, this was a few hours ago. I probably need to go out again to see if it starts. Give me a sec here while I do it, ok? ... ... It does. Just as soon as I publish this, I intend to go out for a short drive. See if everything works as it should.

There doesn't appear to have been any damage done to the car. I mean, while they were in there they could have 'keyed' the exterior, slashed the seats and tires, taken my driver's license/Randalls' and Kroger's cards, WellCare identification card, Shell credit card ... who knows whatall damage might have been done?

Kids? Adults? I have no idea. I am thankful that there was no personal ill will.

I had a momentary hard time when I sat in the driver's seat, only to realize that it had been set back farther than I like it. That wasn't a good thing! If it hadn't been for my neighbor alerting me that there had been a break in, I probably would have had a much more nervous reaction that I did. Which reminds me. While I am not fond of my neighbor, I do appreciate his efforts in letting me know about this one! I'm going to have to write a very nice thank you note and leave it at his front door.

Have you ever had a break in? This will be my third time. There really are no words adequate enough to describe the feeling of personal violation.

An update

2009-12-20T12:10:00.002-06:00

This is a post that I have been putting off, putting off and putting off until I just cannot put it off any longer.

'Tis the season for jolliness, for frivolity ... for parties, music, smiles, dancing and happy faces, right?

Well, this post has some good news in it, but also some bad. You remember my friend Jennie, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor - this after having successfully overcome breast cancer (twice!) - and underwent surgery? I wrote about her here, although there have been other posts as well.

Jennie is doing fairly well. Actually, she's doing very well, all things considered. She writes, "I have much to be thankful for. I was able to have my 6th and 7th chemo and am now down to five more. Those nurses are angels. To keep my white blood cell count up I get three shots of neuprogen three days in succession and that seems to be the trick. My regular oncologist returns to the practice the third week of January and in preparation I will have my PET scan and MRI. There are some side effects to my medicine but they are temporary. My new wig is quite comfortable and cute." (I can almost hear Jennie chuckling as she writes about her cute wig.)

Her daughter Julie, on the other hand, who is my daughter's age, discovered a tumor through self-examination on her chest wall. According to Jennie, this could not have been discovered if Julie had undergone the reconstructive surgery after her last bout with breast cancer. (Little blessings? Mixed blessings?)

She and her husband Matt flew to Houston recently to get a second opinion at MD Anderson. The last I heard they were considering the various options available and whether or not they would treat in Michigan, Texas, or a combination of the two. According to the last e-mail I received from Jennie, this latest tumor appears not to have metasticized and will involve a combination of surgery, chemo and radiation. "The fact that she is dealing with cancer again after such a short time is very worrisome," Jennie says. (Well, I guess!)

Also, this tumor appears to be "unique". Well, aren't most of them? At least, it seems that way to me. It's almost as if - as soon as a way is discovered to cure whatever initially attacks your body, the dreadful disease metamorphosizes into something equally devastating and potentially deadly.

[When I was a kid, penicillin was discovered and for a time it appeared to be the cureall for everything. Anyone remember that? You had the flu? You got a shot of penicillin. You had an infection of some sort? You got a shot of penicillin. I, perhaps among many others, developed an allergic reaction to it - went blind for a few hours, and to this day am always very careful to alert my doctor.]

Barry Fraser, on his blog, eloquently shares his innermost thoughts and feelings in dealing with his bouts with cancer. I recommend, for any of you who are interested in learning more about cancer and how it affects individuals, that you put his blog on your "Favorite" list. It is a serious read but not a "downer", as such. He sees a lot of humor and irony in some of the most banal situations. Barry is someone I would like to meet personally.

When I published this post yesterday, it had a lot of self-chastisement in it. Why was that? Well, when I heard that Julie and her husband were coming to Houston for a second opinion, my first thought was, "I wonder who will be picking them up at the airport?"

That's a taxicab driver's thought, not one a friend first thinks of, but you should remember that I was a cab driver for nearly 18 years and airport trips meant $$$. It was perfectly natural that I should have that question in my mind. However, I was so embarrassed about it that I didn't even respond to any of Jennie's e-mails.

After I publish this revised version of "An update", I will send her an e-mail of explanation for my silence and hope with all my heart that she keeps me as a friend.

I know that some of you maintain prayer lists. Please add Jennie and Julie to your list. They live in Michigan. They need your positive thoughts, especially during this holiday season.

Be careful what you say

2009-12-11T04:00:00.005-06:00

I entered the bridge studio yesterday morning to play with Julian and tried to make a beeline for the coffee and water. As usual, I was running smack dab on the button, but it would quickly be game time, and I had to try and find Julian as soon as possible so we could get started on filling out a current convention card. There were a few things that had to be discussed.

I say "tried to make a beeline" because I was instantly waylaid by Margie, one of the members of our Swiss team for the Regional coming up in February (see yesterday's post), who gushed, with a big smile on her face, "Oh, I'm so happy (or some such) that you'll be playing with us in February."

She was a real threat to distract me from my current focus, which was to grab my coffee and water and get on over to where Julian was waiting, and I responded with something so outrageous, so ridiculous, so unbelievable (I thought!) that she would immediately know I was not serious and was making a joke. We would visit later, I thought to myself as I continued on my way.

What did I say? Well, I don't remember exactly, but the gist of it was that how could she possibly think I'd be playing with them on their team in February? Am pretty sure I told her I said "No way!" to Evelyn, and you know what? She believed me (!), altho I didn't find that out until much later in the session when Julian and I played against Edna (who will be my partner on the team) and Margie for three boards.

I had just returned to the table from refreshing my coffee and was dismayed to notice Edna carefully wiping some sort of foodstuff off of Julian's bright yellow shirt with a napkin. (My napkin, btw.) Oh, no! He and I had only moments before been congratulating each other on not spilling any food on ourselves or our clothing. (I was wearing white pants. Just as bad. Normally, it takes me all of about 10 seconds after I first put a pair of white pants on to spill something on them or brush up against something dirty, doncha know?)

What food? Well, it was the official Unit 174 Christmas party at the Houston Bridge Studio and there were three long tables chock full of absolutely delicious goodies. Julian had visited the tables twice already - he got there well before I did, and at one point I saw him happily consuming a very large piece of coconut cream pie.

After his shirt was pronounced presentable again, we all exchanged pleasantries and were taking our hands out of the first board when I turned to Edna and said, "We'll have to schedule a date." I meant a practice session prior to February where she and I could fill out a mutually agreed upon convention card.

And this is when I discovered that Margie had been completely fooled by my smartass comeback earlier. Oh, my! Edna said, "You're not available in February, right?" "What are you talking about?" I answered. "We're going to be partners in the Swiss."

Towards the end of my response, of course, I remembered what I'd said to Margie an hour or so prior and my voice kind of trailed off. I turned to Margie and asked, in a semi state of shock, "You didn't believe what I said, did you?"

Oh, my! Shades of Gloria Visser - an Upper Peninsula neighbor of ours from many years back, for whom my first husband would lie awake some nights trying to figure out ever more convoluted, but still semi-believable lies - embellishments of the truth, he liked to think of them - to tell her. He wanted to see how far he could actually go before she would stop with the huge wide-eyed "Oh, really?!?" It took a while, but eventually - with her husband's and my help - she caught on. In the meantime, my husband enjoyed every moment.

But getting back to Margie and Edna, I believe that everything is now all straightened out. At least, I hope so! Will have to give them a call later today to make sure. I should probably call Evelyn, too. She played in the game yesterday. I don't recall who her partner was, and I didn't happen to see any of them after the game.

You know, ever since Arlene Weingarten published "A Talented Funny Lady" on November 15th, many people in the duplicate bridge world have come up to me and said how much they're enjoying my blog. Not one, however - with the exception of Arlene, has left a comment, which is about par for the course. I don't leave comments on all the blogs I read, either!

And just because many in the duplicate bridge world are following my blog and enjoying the posts doesn't mean that everyone in the bridge world is! Certainly not Evelyn, Margie, or Edna, right? Otherwise, they would have known better than to believe what I said to Margie upon first entering the studio.

So, Goldenrod, and anyone else reading this who might occasionally be guilty of being flippant and accidentally believed, be careful what you say.

A day in my life

2009-12-10T03:45:00.003-06:00

It began at 9am yesterday, when my alarm went off. I was due to mentor Roop Prasad at 10:30, my regular partner once a month during the day.

First thing I did, of course - after hitting the ladies' room and putting a fresh pot of coffee on, was come in here and see what was going on in my computer world.

Well, to my surprise, there was a notice from Zone Alarm, telling me that my subscription had expired. I thought, "Whaat!?!" (My son-in-law takes care of all such things. Surely there must be an error!)

I rebooted, thinking that something was amiss with the system. No, nothing was amiss with the system. Meanwhile, without really giving them a whole lot of consideration, I okayed a couple of requests from someone/something trying to access my system. And so, all **** is probably breaking loose in there. My firewalls are down and I am unprotected. Who knows if I'll be able to access the internet when I try to get back on later?

Sent my son-in-law three e-mails all told, then had to exit the house for the bridge studio. Meanwhile, back at his ranch, he's in business meetings and unavailable for comment/getting on to see what's happening/renewing my subscription, etc. and blah. Ye gods and little fish hooks!

Roop and I played and had a decent game, altho it could have been a lot better. We scratched, which is a bridge term for placing amongst the top pairs. Interestingly enough, several different notrump bidding sequences came up - ALL of which she mishandled. Would have made a great article for the Examiner, but I've all but given up on that rag.

I spent over four hours a few weeks ago trying to get my article on Arlene Weingarten published. I had some really good things I wanted to say about her, too. She's some kind of woman!

I had articles 'in the works' about Beth Stuart and Dottie Ann Goodloe, Eddie Wold, bridge teachers ... all sorts of great stuff, actually. Last week, when I tried to 'get on' to start the article on Eddie's squeeze class, I was interrupted in my signing in by Examiner's request for me to fill in a form so they could declare my income.

WHAT income??? I have made a total of 13 cents so far. I kid you not. If anyone in the bridge world wants the title of "Houston Duplicate Bridge Examiner", they can have it as far as I am concerned. However, I must warn you that the pipe-smoking frog is my personal property and may not be used without my express written permission.

Meanwhile, Roop and I had a really good after-session about notrump bids and I'll be creating a fairly hefty e-mail for her future reference on that subject. Hope she takes it to heart, studies and learns from it. She's a nice lady and I enjoy playing with her. We'll not be playing again until January 20th, for some reason - it's usually the second Wednesday, so I wished her a happy new year.

She surprised me with a gift. A lovely stone (of some sort) pendant on a silver chain. I was pleased as all get out, as you might imagine, and went around showing it to everybody.

Ran into Julian Barr, with whom I'm playing later today (another 10:30 start). I told him, "I found our card." (Referring, of course, to a convention card.) His response? "Does it have any similarity to what we've been playing?" I answered, "Vaguely." We both got a good laugh over that.

Evelyn James - one of my students for many years - came by to ask if I would play with Margie, Edna and her on a Swiss team in the Regional coming up in February. It didn't take me very long to accept. Years ago, I was the fifth on their team. (Anne was still with us then.) This was when they were all still students of mine. I played with each one during the two sessions. It was a lot of fun. We just might decide to dedicate this one to Anne.

Well, that's about it for my day yesterday. Tried to stay awake for Andre Rieu's special on PBS (They're having another fundraiser.) - are you familiar with him? (Wonderful!) - but couldn't. Had to hit the pillow. Just in case you don't have the foggiest idea who he is, here's what he looks like ... ...

Wiki has a nice writeup about him here. He's a tremendous showman and exudes great warmth, love and joy in all of his shows.

I'll leave you with an excerpt from one of his performances. You won't get anywhere near the total picture from this little bit, but perhaps it will entice you to look further into this man's persona.

A joke (in kind of bad taste)

2009-12-05T18:30:00.001-06:00

Whalechaser posted an "in kind of bad taste" joke on her site a few days ago that, when I first started reading it, thought sure it was going to be one I'd heard before (although it had been a long time).

But no, it's a little different. Now, for those of you who are offended at slightly off-color jokes, read no further. For the rest, read on. (Just about everybody, I'll bet!)

I recommend that you begin with Whale's joke. It's funny. Then, when I tell you mine, you'll see why I was reminded of it.

It seems that there was this traveling salesman who suspected his wife was dilly-dallying around while he was away on business. And so, one day - having already told his wife he'd be out of town - he came home unannounced.

Immediately upon entering their apartment, he suspected foul play. He could smell cigar smoke and neither he nor his wife smoked cigars.

He accused his wife of entertaining a gentleman friend and went charging through the apartment, opening closet doors and looking in cabinets and under beds. Nothing. No culprit to be found.

In a state of total rage, he happened to look out their kitchen window and saw a man getting into his convertible. Positive it was his wife's lover, he picked up their refrigerator and threw it out the window. And yes, it landed on the convertible.

Later, during the police investigation of the incident, a man was questioned who said, "Gee, I don't know what happened, officers. I was just sitting inside this refrigerator smoking my cigar!"

Friday afternoon ramblings

2009-12-04T16:05:00.005-06:00

It's going on 3pm, and I've just returned back home from a couple of hours of semi-serious grocery shopping ... I say "semi" because it's not like we're going to be snowed in for a couple of months or anything like that but, according to Polimom's "Winter Storm Warning" posted at 7:55 am this morning, we're due to receive our earliest recorded snowfall EVER with some deliriously 'out there' forecasters predicting as much as a 6 inch accumulation.

[Actually, I should have left the house earlier but was having way too much fun playing bridge online.]

I say 'semi' because I took a good bit of time last night to clean out my refrigerator. I threw away a lot of what once had been perfectly good food. I'm simply not eating - in a timely fashion - foods that I have already purchased. I threw away watermelon, strawberries, some cheese and a ton of Yogurt that I didn't think I could trust to eat!

[I have been a very bad girl. Not only am I not taking my daily Calcium requirements, but my regular diet leaves a whole lot to be desired. Good stuff, but not very nutritious.]

Anyway, Friday is one of our two garbage pickup days and - if I don't put it out the night before, it's missed. Boy, you can set your clocks by the garbage people, usually ... 8:30 am on the dot! Not today, however. When I left the house to go shopping a little after noon, all of the trash was still sitting there.

It couldn't have been the weather, not that early! Some folks might be out sick or perhaps a truck was down for repair. By the time I got back, tho, everything had been picked up. In fact, their truck was just leaving our complex when I pulled in to the drive.

I took my ice scraper with me to the store, just in case. Actually, it wasn't a 'real' ice scraper that I put in the car. It was a hard plastic spatula. Does the trick just as well, did you know that? It was snowing very heavily at that time. No wind, so nothing approaching blizzard conditions, but lots of snow coming down nonetheless.

The temperature was hovering right around the freezing mark and I thought, "Goldenrod, you idiot! You left the house too late!!" But, I continued onward. No icing conditions. Not yet, but I wasn't going to be traveling over any bridges, either! They're always the first to cause trouble.

Tonight, now, is going to be a different story. The temperature is expected to dip down into the mid-20's (Fahrenheit). The roads are all wet and will not even beGIN to dry out before ice starts to form. HISD (Houston Independent School District) dismissed early today. I think that's a very good idea. It takes those buses a long time to safely deliver all their charges home.

[My hope was that I could make it back home before one or two of those teenagers who had been dismissed from school early decided they wanted to try a spinout on a slick or possibly icy - even better! - road to impress their friends/girlfriends. And I did, thank goodness.]

It's going on 4pm now. I just took a look outside. It's not snowing, but it's continuing to precipitate. If the temperatures drop as predicted, there'll be **** to pay this evening and throughout the night on the roads in this area. Glad I'm not driving a taxicab, I'll tell you that !

Have decided that this will be a four blanket night. Doesn't that sound just delicious? And speaking of delicious, I want to assure all of you that - as I was shopping and placing foodstuffs in my cart - I paid particular attention to questions such as: How long will that last? Am I really going to eat that?

This would have been a good time to put some chili together, wouldn't it? Three things wrong with that idea, however. 1) I'm absolutely positive that I don't have all the ingredients on hand. 2) I decided I'd already wasted enough time playing bridge online to further delay my getting out of here by finding the recipe, checking to see which ingredients I had and which I didn't, adding to my list, etc. 3) Once you put it all together, it's a several hour slow cooker thingamajig (but a good thingamajig!), so it's really a morning 'do'.

That's it from here for a Friday afternoon, folks. Hope you're doing ok and are looking forward to your weekend. Stay warm!

Metaphysics, dream steps, poetry

2009-12-01T18:30:00.003-06:00

Are you into stuff like that? Usually I am not, but for the past nearly two years I've been following the blogsite of Michael Patton, another of those I discovered while cruising the net.

Sometimes his poems make me laugh out loud. Sometimes I cry. Sometimes they lose me completely and I don't see much meaning in them. One day I found myself rereading a poem that I had commented on earlier and I saw something completely different in it. Kind of like art, I guess. Sort of depends on the mood you're in.

Michael never just writes poetry. He always begins with a few words of explanation and an illustration of some sort. It could be an actual photograph, but often he will treat us to one of his original drawings, such as this one ... ...

... which headed up "Permanently Evanescent", published just a couple of weeks ago. I seem to recall his having used this drawing at least once before. The explanation then had something to do with Prometheus (sp?), I think.

His drawings of cars and the people driving them are very funny! I spent some time just now trying to find the exact one I was looking for, but cannot. It would have been published several months ago. In its stead, here's one ... ...

... he used to accompany his poem, "Driving Naked", which he published on August 12th of this year. This is one of those that made me laugh out loud. I've just tried to link it directly for you, but for some reason or another have been unable to do so. If you'll go to the first link on this post and scroll down on the sidebar to August 2009 and bring that month of published poems up, you'll find it.

Anyhow, just thought I'd share - once again (I've recommended his poetry before) - one of my favorites with you. Hope you're having a great day. It's pouring down rain here!

Beth's delicious fudge recipe

2009-11-29T11:50:00.002-06:00

This is per request from Nancy and I'm glad to share it.

Most of you know, I think, that I am - basically - an absolute and utter failure (no hope whatsoever!) as a cook, so when I come across a recipe that I am able to put together and have it turn out delicious each and every time - ho, boy, that's A#1 in my book!

It's really simple. (Has to be!) I'll be making a personal comment or two along the way.

Melt together in saucepan on top of stove a 14-oz. can of sweetened condensed milk along with 18-oz. semi-sweet chocolate bits.

Have you ever dealt with sweetened condensed milk? Sticky, isn't it? Keep the burner low while the chocolate is melting, stirring every so often, while you are tending to the nuts (which come next). Make sure you have something handy to set your stirrer on between times so you don't have sticky stuff dripping everywhere.

Add a dash of salt, 1 cup chopped pecans, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 tablespoon butter to the above.

Those pecans have to already have been chopped into bits, ok? When you start adding everything, the texture almost immediately changes. There's very little time for you to futz around with chopping nuts. In fact, it's almost more than I am able to do to get it all mixed together before it begins hardening!

Set out on waxed paper (I use a cookie sheet - perfect size!) and spread around with a spatula to even as desired. Let harden. Cut to size. Salivate. Eat.

So, how was YOUR day?

2009-11-28T10:40:00.001-06:00

Mine was great! Couldn't have been any better. The temperature outside was just a little chilly, but it's getting to be that time of year, right? Inside their house was a lot of warmth, and I'm not just talking about the fireplace, either.

We ate and ate and then ate some more. I took over some of Beth's delicious fudge that I had made the night before. It's probably all gone now. The last I saw of it, there were maybe a few pieces left and my granddaughter and her friend Jessica were busy grabbing one or two every time they went past the counter.

Sam - you remember Sam, don't you? - has been hibernating in my closet for a few months and I thought I should get him out, grab his clothes, and see what we could come up with in the way of a Thanksgiving outfit for him.

Well, my granddaughter thought Sam should be "Samantha" for the day, so here he/she is ... ...

with bow on head. The photo came out a little dark, but you get the idea. Anyhow, Samantha was at the center of the table while we ate. A nice touch.

As an added plus, Samantha had no fear of being beheaded, defeathered, or any of those bad things that happen to other of her fowl friends. Beth sent me several jokes related to Thanksgiving and turkeys. Thought I'd share a couple with you.

This first one has all the turkeys running around mooing ... ...

... ... and this second (my favorite) shows a woman looking all over for the turkey she is sure she brought home with her! Can you find it? :)

Many games of bananagrams and a few of charades later - I suck at charades! - I was ready to call it a day. Just a fabulous Thanksgiving. Fantabulous!

A sixth year anniversary?

2009-11-24T16:20:00.010-06:00

That's what my selective hearing ears thought I heard on the radio when I was driving back home from a couple of errand trips just now. Lots and lots of people out there fighting for parking spots today, doncha know. I did only what I had to and then came back home to the safety and relative calm of my private habitat.

Did I hear that right? This is the 6th year anniversary of the "invasion of Iraq", as it's now termed, and Tony Blair - among many others - is being called to be a witness before some sort of tribunal?? Is he on trial? Will "W" be on trial? Will they be charged with war crimes? With crimes against humanity?

Sometimes - oftentimes, actually! - I guess I'd prefer to be an ostrich. Just hide my head in the sand and pretend nothing is happening around me.

That's ridiculous, of course! However, the last time I was actively involved in the political scene - I must admit - was in the mid-70's. Since then, I have preferred to 'pretend it doesn't exist'. You might even say I stopped living - cocooned in my own little web of life.

This Thanksgiving has me filled with such joy, warmth and contentment. Very different from those in recent years. I am going to be with my dearest ones in just two days. My son-in-law said that they might need some help with a 'naked bird'. Well, I'm not very good with naked birds, but I'm planning to make some of Beth's delicious fudge to take out there to help contribute to the feasting.

I have been composing a list of whatall I'm going to take to Katyland. And yes, I confess I even bought them something for Christmas. Yeah, I did! I mean, who knows? They might not be around this neck of the woods next month, right? I intend to fully enjoy this holiday! Maybe we'll even get in a game of bananagrams. (?)

Today has been a little different from yesterday. My next door neighbor, who is evidently off this week, hasn't chosen to have his stereo blasting through my walls yet. Nice and quiet. zzzzzzzz

Regarding AAA? I'll just have to look at their literature more carefully the next time they send me a solicitous inquiry through the mail - which they will! - won't I? I was just speaking from feelings of bad memories in that last post, and a bunch of you caught me up on it. Good on you!

Tonight, I'll be watching the two-hour season finale of "Dancing With the Stars". It's kind of hard to believe that I haven't been glued to the television set for all of the episodes this time around, but I haven't. In fact, I'm not sure I even remember who is participating. Donny Osmond, maybe. (?) Who else? I don't know. Anyhoo, I'll be watching. It's a good show. I enjoy it.

I really don't have a whole lot more to say here, so I'll just close - in case I don't post another tomorrow - by wishing you and yours a most happy Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

AAA

2009-11-23T12:55:00.001-06:00

I'm talking about the American Automobile Association here, the letters not to possibly be misconstrued as Alcoholics Anonymous or any other such similar-sounding names.

I was a member for years and years, and always thought highly of them. There was a branch office located not far from where I lived here in Houston, and I often went there for free maps and assistance. Wonderful, wonderful!

But then I started driving a taxi, beginning with Yellow Cab. I didn't see the need to continue my relationship with AAA because Yellow Cab could - and would! - respond to my emergency needs much quicker than AAA.

One night, however, after having a most enjoyable game of duplicate bridge with Tom Jahnke - who was one of my regular partners at the time - we came out to the parking lot only to discover that one of the rear tires on my taxi (the right, I think) was flatter than a pancake.

I knew that I couldn't change the tire (I was driving a full-sized Chevrolet Caprice at the time) - I had a good spare in the trunk - and hoped that maybe Tom could help me.

Well no, he really couldn't, he said. I said, "That's OK. I'll call Yellow Cab. They'll come over and change it for me. It'll only cost me $35."

"No, don't do that," he said. "I'm a member of AAA. I'll call them. They'll be here quickly and it will cost us nothing!"

Sure enough, it didn't take AAA very long to arrive at the scene. However, they refused to work on my taxicab because it was a commercial vehicle. !!!!! Nowhere in their literature - even today's, I've checked - does it say that if your vehicle is a commercial one, it is excluded from their services.

And nowadays membership in that (what I call "hoity doity") illustrious organization costs upwards of $100 per year.

Scattered stuff

2009-11-22T23:30:00.001-06:00

This will be pretty much what you've come to expect from me on a Sunday. I just got back home from playing on a Swiss team with Julian Barr and the VanDames. We were second in our bracket and I want to tell you, folks, that I had an absolute blast. Just a great time! It had been a month or so since Julian and I last played, but it was almost as tho we played together yesterday. Most pleasant!!

To add to my enjoyment, we started off the evening against Harry Selldin et al. While we were shuffling cards, the repartee came and went almost faster than our eyes could blink. Turns out that both Harry and I are avid BBO players. We exchanged user names. Watch out, opponents! :)

A downer occurred on the way home, when my "check tire pressure" light came on. Come on, guys, give me a break here, will ya? It was 10:15 pm on a Sunday night! But, I pulled over into the first well-lit area anyway to take a gander at the tires. They looked ok to me, so I kept on going.

I stopped at an Exxon all-nighter within a mile or so of my house to look at the tires again. Still looked ok. I thought, "As long as I'm here, I might as well go inside and see what kind of lighters they have." My granddaughter gave me this really pretty holder for Bic mini-lighters a few years back, but I've had just a terrible time recently trying to find refills for it. So, I've had to resort to regular lighters.

Would you believe it? They stock the mini's! Hip hip hooray!! So that was an upper. Now if the tire pressure will somehow hold within steady and reasonably-driveable range until tomorrow morning, then I can get the car over to my trusted garage guys to see what's going on with one of my tires. (I had the grease and oil changed last week and everything checked out ok.) Let's hope I caught just a little dinky nail and it's not flatter than a pancake in the morning. Wish me luck, please.

I've talked with you before about how much I'm enjoying local channel 2.2, which shows movies 24/7, haven't I? Well, if I felt so inclined - which I don't, I could now be watching "The Great Escape" for the 5th or 6th time within this past week. My goodness! I mean, it's a wonderful film, but enough already!!

However, this afternoon I was treated to a Jodie Foster film that I hadn't seen in a while ... "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane". It's classified as a horror film, and I couldn't disagree more. Are you familiar with this story? There's actually a pretty good summary of the plot here. Only a couple of errors, and I say 'errors' with some certainty because I just viewed the film.

She is some kind of talented actress, isn't she? I rate her on about the same level as Meryl Streep, and that's saying something for me! Over the years, I heard many stories about how her mother ran her life and directed her acting career. I'd pretty much figured out that she's a private person and really didn't know that much about her.

Not many pictures of her coming out of restaurants and such. I don't know how these actors handle it, tell you the truth, what with the paparazzi following them around and sticking cameras and microphones in their faces all the time. Wiki has a decent-sounding writeup on her. I can't vouch for the veracity of any of it, altho a lot of it sounds plausible. Here's the link, if you'd like to read it for yourselves.

Lastly for today's post, I want to inform all of you that I am going to be partaking of 'the big bird' Thursday. And at my daughter's house, no less! The invite came today. Not a total surprise. Her comings and goings have been greatly curtailed recently by back surgery. She's doing really well, but still and all, their annual trip to California on this holiday was cancelled. Perhaps they'll go over Christmas. (?)

Whatever their plans are for December, I'm heading out to Katyland Thursday and am very much looking forward to it. In fact, today - while doing some brief shopping - I picked up a couple of doggie toys for Genie, their black Lab. Won't this be fun!

Well, I think that's about all for now. I'll just go back and proof this one more time before hitting 'publish'.

Calling for help

2009-11-19T14:00:00.002-06:00

Chuck's mom fell last Thursday and broke her hip. She lay there on the floor of her apartment for seven hours, vainly calling for help, until someone went to check on her because she wasn't at lunch.

It sounds to me as tho she lives in the type of retirement community where people care about one another. That's a really good thing. Chuck, of course, has been very concerned, as am I (and I don't even know her!).

I have been mildly bothered, especially these past few years, over the fact that I live alone and am not getting any younger. Now, Chuck's mother is 85 - 13 years my senior, but the difference in years is of no importance whatsoever here.

I heard just a horrendous story recently about a fellow bridge player - one of my regular partners from years back - who had an accident in his kitchen. I don't want to go into all of the gory details, but he lay there on the floor and bled to death before anyone discovered his body a day or two later.

I asked my daughter a while back to check on me - by phone or e-mail - at least every couple of days or so. That doesn't happen. I guess she figures that if I'm publishing on my blog that I'm ok. But what about the times - and there have been some, particularly recently - when I'm not regularly publishing?

I don't want to put all the weight on her, either. She has a busy schedule and her own immediate family to think about. I've investigated having some sort of gadgets installed inside the house, at the same time wearing something around my neck - a necklace of some sort, whereupon if I do happen to fall and can't get up I can say so and (supposedly) someone monitoring a switchboard in India (Afghanistan? Timbuktu?) will report the incident and 'come' to my rescue. Sounds expensive!

What happens if I have a fall while I'm out in the backyard? It's fenced in. No one would see me. All the critters out there - including the fire ants - would have had a good old time with my body long before anyone would discover me. I'd probably be unrecognizable. Ugh! Just the thought of such a thing sends chills up and down my spine. Btw, it's the A#1 reason I'll never have another cat. Just so you know.

I grew up in Munising, Michigan, a little town in the Upper Peninsula. It was one of those places where everyone knew everyone else and - in many cases - was a relative. We lived next door to Lavinia Meyland, whose sister lived right across the street.

Lavinia was living alone at the time. Her husband, Walter, of whom I was very fond - he was a fellow philatelist, had passed away some time before and their two sons were grown and gone. I was either away at college or married and living elsewhere, I don't remember.

Anyway, she fell coming down the stairs of her home and lay there for a while before she finally was able to summon up the strength (!!!) to get up and walk to the telephone, where she called for help.

As a taxicab driver, I felt safest and least alone. How could that possibly be? Well, I had immediate radio access to a living person. (Assuming I was in the cab, of course.) Think about it for a second. It's true.

Kind of a 'downer' post, huh? This is a serious issue and not one we willingly choose to face. What plans have you made 'in the event of'?

The double nickel

2009-11-18T15:10:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was my son-in-law's 55th birthday. I tried to get myself invited over to their supper outing, but every time I suggested such a thing, either he said, "I'll connect you with my wife. She knows the plans." or she said, "We don't know what time yet, where, or anything."

There was no "Yeah, we'd love to have you join us. We'll call you later and let you know what's going on", so I gave up on the idea of joining them. I knew I had to get out there, tho. I had a special gift I wanted him to have. It wasn't the world's biggest deal, but I wanted him to get it on his birthday.

It was something that my sister gave me for my 55th (just a couple of years back, doncha know) ... a silly plywood/cardboard-type sign dealie attached to a wooden dowel that says "55mph" ... it's cute, nonsensical and absolutely perfect for the person who has everything!

Over the years, I have shared it with a few of my friends. I'd 'Indian give' it to them for just one year. Well, this year has seen its last giveaway. If he wants to save it to give to my daughter when she turns 55, that's his business I figure.

I didn't get out to their house until just after 9pm. Well, shoot! I knew that my granddaughter was in bed and was pretty sure that my daughter was, as well. She's an early go-to-bedder these days ... has been for quite a while, actually, trying to keep up with her daughter's busy schedule. However, I also knew that my son-in-law would be up. He's kind of a night owl.

I parked the car in their drive, leaving the engine running, and walked up to the porch - peeking in various windows as I went. Lights were on, but I didn't see anyone. Well, shuckeydurn anyway!

I didn't want to knock on the door or ring the bell. (They have a black Lab who gets very excited!) I looked for the little table that they've had right by the front door in the past. It wasn't there.

Well, poop! I left his card and the 55mph sign on another table further away from the front door, rang the bell and took off out of there. In retrospect, I wish I had just left those two items and then called him after I got back home. (I didn't have my cell phone with me.)

And so, my birthday gift was probably not very much appreciated. I no doubt woke up the whole household. (Haven't heard from any of them since last night, so I'm pretty sure that's the case. I'm in the proverbial doghouse.)

To be fair to them, someone from their house tried to call twice yesterday - eeh, I don't know, maybe 5:30 or so? - and left messages both times. The problem there was that I had already decided - at least two or three hours earlier - that I would be persona non grata and so was not available to answer the phone. (Still haven't checked my messages, either.)

I can be like that sometimes. If you were under the impression that all is right, pleasant and amusing in Goldenrod's world 24/7, I am sorry to inform you otherwise. I will often retreat into my own inner sanctum until I'm ready to come out again.

ANYhoo, I'm out again. Had trouble sleeping last night. Finally figured out that I was cold. Got up and turned the furnace on (first time this year). Stayed up a little bit to watch some TV with a little space heater blowing that wonderful warm stuff on my tootsies and then went back to bed. Woke up just before noon.

It's Wednesday. On Wednesday mornings I take my weekly calcium pill. It has to be taken after several hours of sleep. I had met that requirement, so took it - all the while downing water for the next hour or so like a good girl while I played some BBO with one of my regular partners, Ann-Sophie from Sweden.

I'll have to do a post for you soon about some of my experiences with Bridge Base Online and the people I've met. I know I talked about predators a while back. Will have an update on that, as well.

Just checked my messages. Both yesterday were from my son-in-law, the first one (going on 5pm) telling me they were planning on being at some sort of Mexican restaurant by about quarter till six and the second (perhaps a half hour or more later) telling me they were running late. :)

Got another call an hour or so ago from Walter Freitag, my mentee on Thursday nights (once a month), wanting to confirm our date for tomorrow evening. Will have to return that one.

Hmmph! Not much else to report, actually. Hope your day is going well!

Looking the other way

2009-11-17T13:00:00.005-06:00

There's a huge difference between driving a car that's a taxicab and driving that same car as a personal vehicle ... even tho it's the same car and has the exact same driver!

I own a 2005 Buick LeSabre. It's a beautiful shade of blue. I bought it a few years back when I was driving a taxicab, and it still goes everywhere I go and rests in my garage when I'm at home, altho now it's not so 'visible'.

What do I mean by that? Well, let's see if I can come up with a couple of good examples for you so you know what I'm talking about. Outside of the 'obvious', where all of the lettering, numbering, decals and stickers have been removed from both the inside and outside of the car - including the windows - and the cruise light at the top has disappeared, the first thing that comes to my mind is turn signals.

When I use them now - and I always use them, of course, doesn't everybody? - it seems to me as tho people are either in a hurry to pull out in front of me or, if I'm on the freeway, speed up so I can't get over. Those two things almost never happened when my car was a taxicab. I've tried to imagine why that might have been, and the only answers I can logically come up with are that - in the first instance, they were pretty sure I'd come right up on their behinds and treat them to a great blast of my horn if they pulled out - and in the second instance, they figured I was coming over anyway so they gave me room.

Impossible things are sometimes expected of taxicabs. Probably the best example I can think of here is when we have high water and flooding conditions exist in parts of the city. As a cab driver, you make it your business to quickly learn which areas are prone to flooding and therefore avoid. You can't make any money if your car is in the shop because you carelessly subjected it to high water and flooded it out.

[Well! Hmmph!! I have just concluded a several hour search that I began yesterday for a post that I thought SURE I had already done on driving while flooding conditions existed here in Houston. It's not here. Either that, or it's mis-labeled, which is certainly a possibility.]

Let me get right to the point (without going into great detail of what I thought I'd already published) and say that many times - it was my experience as a taxicab driver - people expected incredible things from my car just because it was a taxicab.

This one time in particular I was over near Sharpstown Mall on the SW side of town. (That area had been absolutely impossible to get to earlier in the day.) I'd picked up a fellow from IAH who wanted to go to a hotel in that area. I told him that I didn't think I'd be able to get him there, that the area had been heavily flooded all day. "That's OK," he said. "Just get me as close as you can. If I can see the hotel, I can walk there." What a reasonable man!

And so I told him I'd see what I could do. Well, the closer we got the more it became evident that his feet were going to get wet. We got within a couple of blocks of the place, actually, which was better than I'd thought we'd do. The last I saw of him he was walking barefoot in water up over his thighs, suitcase precariously perched on top of his head.

No sooner had I let him out of the car than this other fellow came slogging up to me, wanting me to drive him home. He lived just a few blocks 'over that way', he said as he pointed towards what appeared to be nothing but water. "Sir," I began, "that doesn't look passable to me."

"Sure, it is!" he insisted. "I tried to drive there myself just a few minutes ago, but I accidentally flooded my car out." That admission gave me a ton of confidence, doncha know! I asked, "Where's your car now?"

He pointed to this humongous van, which was sitting in what looked like at least two feet of water. It was all I could do to keep from laughing. What did he think my taxicab was, a boat?? (And no, I didn't take him.)

[It is now Tuesday, the 17th. Speaking of humongous, we have had a pretty good-sized change in the weather. I ALmost turned the heat on last night, but then decided not to. I was nice and cozy and snuggly warm under my blankets, and right now I am nice and warm wearing one of the world's most comfy robes ever ... it was given to me for Christmas last year by my family. Thank you again, wonderful family!

I had a semi-crisis recently when I couldn't find it, but then I finally did - under a pile of stuff at the foot of my bed. (I've told you before what my house looks like, haven't I? Well, it doesn't look nearly as bad now as it did a few months ago, but still! One of my sincerest wishes is that I am able to get everything sorted through and the 'junk' thrown out before I kick the bucket. Not that I'm planning to expire any time soon, but you never know, right?)

Anyhoo, I'm going to try and get back to what originally prompted the idea for this post, which was Steven's comment on my last one, to wit: "It's kind of hard to look the other way when all that's going on around you, isn't it."]

As a taxicab driver, I was at all times fully cognizant of what was going on around me - a matter of defense and self-preservation, as you might imagine - and that awareness has (most of the time) carried over to this day.

And just because I was driving a taxicab and was so keenly aware of what has happening, I was often called upon to be a witness. Thank goodness that - at least most often - the police officer on the scene would interview me first, take my statement and info verbatim and then let me go. (He/she knew that time was money to me.)

One instance that stands out vividly in my mind is when I was sitting at a stop sign at Tirrell and Allen Parkway. I was an eyewitness to a really stupid accident, where one vehicle ran into another that clearly had the right-of-way. I wouldn't have thought much about it except that the guilty party immediately exited his vehicle and began verbally assaulting the victim, who - as it turned out - spoke almost no English and seemed to be in an apologetic mode.

VERY quickly, I exited my car (after first getting on the horn with my dispatcher) and went over to the scene. I said, "Sir?" to the guilty party, "Please don't go anywhere. I have your license number. I saw the whole thing and the police are on their way." (Which, of course, was an outrageous lie. I hadn't had time to call the police yet.)

I was furious! How dare a native English-speaking (albeit American English) person try to take advantage of one more timid than he? How dare he?!? I flagged down the first police car I saw (lots of them cruise up and down Allen Parkway, thank goodness!), gave my statement and left.

I'll leave you today with a funny story ... at least, I think it's funny!

I was sitting at a red light at the corner of Wilcrest and Harwin. I was heading north. Probably on my way to Randall's again. Heard that name before, right? I was in the left lane. Had left the right lane open for any who wanted to make a right turn after first stopping at the light.

Right next to me, not making a right turn as it turned out, was a city cop. We waited for the light to turn green. It did, but neither of us was able to move because vehicles going east on Harwin were still making left turns - illegally, of course - long after their left turn signal light had turned red. It wasn't just one or two of the bad guys, either. It was a bunch!

I rolled down the passenger side window and said to the cop, "Well? Have you decided which one you're going to nail yet? I'll be your witness. Go ahead and pick one."

After his eyeballs stopped rolling around inside the back of his head, he took off and got one of those suckers. (I don't remember whether or not I was able to get through on the green light. I mean, those foulers were flagrant!)

The Indiana stop

2009-11-15T21:30:00.002-06:00

I just cannot go another second without posting this one, folks!

Years and years ago, when I lived in Indiana, I was often slightly - sometimes more than just slightly - appalled when my dear friend, Jacky, with whom I was riding as a passenger at the time, made what I came to think of as an "Indiana stop".

Do you know what that is? It is what happens when, upon coming to a 4-way stop, you just barely tap on your brakes and then cruise right on through the intersection. She did this more times than I'd care to try and recount. And always without incident!

[She might term it a "rolling" stop, I don't know.]

Well, tonight - coming back home from Randall's and Luby's, where I got some of the world's best vegetable soup to go - I saw the alltime record-holder for rolling/Indiana stops danged near get his comeuppance (and a banged-up car in the process).

The light was red. I was stopped. The person on my right decided to just cruise right on through the intersection, intending to make a right turn, even though the person coming the other way was making a left (on a left turn only green light, I want you to know!)

There was no tap on the brakes, nothing like that, until - all of a sudden - the person 'cruising' decided he'd better stop or he would hit the legal car. (?!?) To compound matters slightly, he had a sheep right behind him, who was hellbent on following him over the cliff.

Lawdy, lawdy! You know what, folks? The very last thing you need when you've made all of the stops on your list and you're really anxious to get back home is to have to stand around and be a witness when the police finally arrive - an hour or two later.

Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Paraskevidekatriaphobia

2009-11-13T14:40:00.001-06:00

How's that word grab you? Ten syllables, I think I counted, maybe eleven. Too many, that's for danged sure!

What does it mean? It means "the fear of Friday, the 13th". In doing a Google search for this word - Who in their right minds would have at their memory bank's beck and call a word like this, I want to know?!? - I discovered three different* spellings for it (LOL) and a bunch of interesting stories.

*I just arbitrarily chose one of the three. Figured I couldn't be far off.

So, what am I doing this Friday, the 13th? Not much, I'll tell you that. (So what else is new, right?)

I don't have a 'fear' of Friday, the 13th, per se, but I notice that my conscious self is always aware of when it comes around. Does it seem like it's here way too often to you, or is it just me? I guess I could take the time and do the math on this one, but I just don't feel like it. Too much of a bother.

What I really want to talk about today is the fact that next week is officially Geography Awareness Week, according to my monthly newsletter from National Geographic.

All sorts of specials will be offered on the National Geographic Channel, for those of you who have cable. (It's a cable channel, isn't it? I don't have cable.) Home-schooling mothers (and fathers) will be particularly interested in watching these with their students, I would imagine.

This year's theme is "Get Lost in Mapping", and there's a world map that you can download for free if you visit their website. All you need - according to the article I read - is paper, tape, and a world of imagination. I'm really tempted to do it, but I figure I have way too much paper gathering dust around here as it is!

However, I might change my mind and add to the clutter, anyway. A current world map would be of great interest to me. I wonder how big it is when it's all downloaded and taped together. If anyone does download it, add a comment to this post and tell us how big it is when it's all put together, will you? Just for grins.

Have a happy and safe Friday the 13th, everyone, and I'll catch all y'all later.

Seeing Alaska

2009-11-12T12:30:00.004-06:00

One of my favorite bloggers, Chuck, has just concluded an 8-part series of posts which include videos he made and narrated about his Alaskan trip a few years back, but before you begin perusing any of those - my personal favorite is the one he did on the Kenai Peninsula, I recommend that you begin here.

This is just a wonderful post where he gives a really good overview of his "great Alaskan adventure" in 2004, traveling 10,000+ miles altogether from start to finish. Lots of photos. Lots of cross references. (He has a lot of fun cross-referencing.) Lots of detailed information.

His header really says it all ... "Adventure is not outside man, but within, for you cannot cross the sea by simply staring at the water." Chuck hasn't done much staring, and he's definitely crossed a lot of seas.

Getting back to Alaska, however, here is only one of the photos you will be treated to in this first post,

which was published on July 29th this year. It shows an aerial view of Glacier Bay National Park. Beautiful photograph!

Part 1 of Chuck's videocam series is titled "The Inside Passage -- Aboard the Alaska Ferry, Ketchikan, and Juneau", and was published in late October.

This month Chuck was really busy getting it all together and you can view selected posts or all, at your leisure. Part 2 (Nov. 1st) features "Skagway and the White Pass & Yukon RR". Part 3 - "Flightseeing Glacier Bay National Park" - followed the very next day.

Eight of these altogether, #8 publishing just this past Monday. Thank you, Chuck, for sharing with us so much of your wonderful trip. I, for one, have enjoyed seeing Alaska through your eyes.

Universal Sports,

2009-11-11T18:25:00.001-06:00

I think (!?), is the name of a new digital channel here on local television. (You kind of have to remember that I don't have cable.)

Recently, I have been treated to previews of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC, in addition to "Grand Prix" figure skating competitions from around the world, in which both the individual and pairs skaters are vying for a spot on their country's Olympic team. Wonderful, wonderful!

Tonight, however, I will definitely forego watching the speedskating events. That's about all that's showing on that channel. I mean, folks, those suits leave absolutely NOTHING to one's imagination in re the genital department. Come on now, give me a break, will ya please?? (And people thought men's ballet tights were bad. They've got nothing on those speed skaters!)

Within the last couple of weeks, tho, I have been fortunate enough to view various recaps of Ironman Triathlons from the past few years. Up until 39.2 (this local digital channel) showed up, I had never even heard of such a competition. Had you?

Oh, man! Talk about grueling!! This competition, which takes place annually in Hawaii all in the span of one day, combines a 2.4 mile swim fb (followed by) a 112 mile bike ride fb a 26 mile 385 yard marathon ... all without a break, I want you to know. Can you believe such a thing?

Lots and lots of really interesting stories here, including one of a 76-year-old nun who was competing in her 20th Ironman* event! Incredible, just incredible!! Btw, she finished - these events are timed - with only one minute to go. Good on her, wouldn't you say?

*Wiki has a very nice writeup on the Ironman competition. If you'd like to read or learn more about it, please go here.

Meanwhile, of course, I'm sitting here on my 'you know what' doing very little. I mentored at the studio earlier today with one of my two regulars. She's coming along very nicely. What's happening your way?

Simon Says ... #2

2009-11-08T21:15:00.006-06:00

I first introduced this word game here, on October 24th.

Just to refresh your memory banks ... ... in order to come up with the correct solution at the end, which will be an amusing word or phrase that is apropos to where you started, you must do the steps in the order presented and follow the directions exactly.

As I said in October, it is only rarely that I get these right the first time, so have a little patience with yourself. We had some fun with that first one, didn't we? (Including some hilarious answers.) Let's see how we do with #2.

1. Print the words A KING'S ROBES, omitting the spaces and apostrophe.
2. Delete the central letter.
3. Double the fourth consonant. (When directions like these are given, always assume that they mean starting from the left.)
4. Double the last vowel.
5. Insert a W in the fourth position.
6. Switch the second vowel from the left with the second vowel from the right.
7. Delete the last consonant.
8. Move one R to the left end of the row.
9. Delete the fourth letter from the right.
10. Delete the second consonant from the left.
11. Repeat step 7.
12. Move the last consonant to the right end of the row.
13. Switch the first and last vowels.
14. Switch the fourth and sixth letters.
15. Switch the third and seventh letters.

What did you end up with? If you had REIGN WEAR, I hereby proclaim you an official member* of the Simon Says Solver Club. If you had some sort of gobbledygook? Sorry, you'll have to go back to the beginning and try again. Just go a little slower.

*Tammy, Emily, Katie, Kayla and Bug are already charter members. Do we have any more takers?

Btw, I want everyone to know that "the pig" has been found - this'll be the one especially for Jacky - and will be included in a Simon Says on down the road. It's a little more difficult. I'm trying to present these in order of difficulty, but what's difficult for me might not be for you and vice versa, right?

Meanwhile, happy word puzzle solving, and I'll talk atcha later!

The Gesundheit! Institute

2009-11-08T20:15:00.003-06:00

I just finished watching "Patch Adams", the 1998 movie starring Robin Williams as Hunter "Patch" Adams, the controversial humanitarian who was very nearly denied his PhD in medicine due in part, according to the movie version of his story, to being "excessively happy".

The official review of this film, as it appears in my TV Guide, includes the word "cloying". Say that word slowly. Let it rattle around in your mouth for a while. Move it around with your tongue. Doesn't it almost make you want to spit it out? Nasty, disgusting stuff. The reviewer didn't think much of the movie, obviously, even though "an over-the-top Robin Williams" (the reviewer's phrase) did his very best to make Dr. Adams' story believable and palatable.

I could hardly disagree more. I am not the world's biggest Robin Williams fan, but he was the perfect choice to portray Patch, a firm believer in holistic medicine and healing through laughter. Through his portrayal, I came to know Patch Adams as a deeply compassionate man who wanted to improve patients' quality of life.

Here is what the real Patch Adams looks like, by the way ... ...

Is that one of the world's more colorful mustaches, or what??

The trailer at the end of the film described how Patch had provided free medical care to more than 12,000 patients, and went on to tell how plans were in the works to build a 40-bed facility on land that had been purchased in West Virginia.

I was a little distressed to learn a few moments ago, in doing research for this post, that the monies needed to build such a facility still have not been procured. That makes me sad.

If you would like to read more about Patch Adams' personal philosophy and the Gesundheit! Institute, go here. He even has his own blog site.

Trying not to get sick

2009-11-07T10:30:00.000-06:00

Why do they keep hospitals so cold?

You know what the prep nurse told us all in pre-op? That the operating room temp is kept at 52 degrees. (I'm talking Fahrenheit here.) It's a state law, she said. ??!!?? My daughter questioned her on that statement, and she repeated it.

Well, it wasn't that much warmer ANYwhere in the hospital. Even though I had brought a wool wrap and was wearing wool socks inside my fur-lined moccasins, I was not warm enough. (I hardly ever am, but this really went beyond the pale!)

But then, to top it all off, I spent most of the night Wednesday in here at the computer playing bridge. (I wanted to be up and at 'em when my son-in-law arrived to pick me up.) Every time I lay down to try and get some sleep, my mind would insistently remind me after about an hour or so that I had no alarm set (in the car), so I would get up and play some more bridge online for a while.

The rest of that day - Thursday - was spent trying to take naps whenever I felt tired (which was most of the time), but I think I must still have been in too much of a state of continued anxiety - even though it appeared that all was going along very well, for my body to relax that much.

Yesterday, now, was a completely different story. I spent most of the day sniveling, blowing my nose and frequently napping. It had finally caught up with me! Not only that, but I could hardly walk.

Even though the hospital was quite small (by today's standards), the amount of walking it took to get from where I was to anywhere else was significant, particularly for one who - basically - does little more than sit around on her behind all day.

Much better today. Got a really good night's sleep. Thank you, Lord. No big aches anywhere and constant sniveling has almost completely disappeared. I'll keep a close watch on it today, but I think I'm over the hump.

Did you know that there are a few people running around out there with surgical masks on? For the H1N1 virus, doncha know. I read about it a lot on other blogs, particularly the eastern Ontario ones, but I'm really not anticipating much (if any) of an outbreak here.

All for now. Have a couple of other posts I'd like to do today. Let's see how awake I am after the next one!

Back surgery (update)

2009-11-04T20:45:00.003-06:00

I got back home perhaps half an hour ago. Didn't intend to be away from the house this long, but - in my haste to get inside the hospital where my daughter would shortly be undergoing surgery - I parked in a restricted zone and got towed. "Oh, no!" you cry. "Oh, yes," I embarrassingly admit.

So anyway, my son-in-law will be picking me up again tomorrow morning and taking me over to where I can retrieve my car ($191 for the privilege). Then, he will head back over to the hospital where my daughter, hopefully, will almost have finished her breakfast - having left just enough for him to scarf up in an instant - and be ready to go back home out to Katy, only this time she might be able to actually sit up in his vehicle instead of having to lie down while traveling in it.

She's doing well. No, she's not been up and walking around yet. That first big adventure will be later this evening when she has to get up to go to the bathroom. (Her IV apparatus and pole will have to go with her, so she'll have a nurse's assistance.) But, she's moving all of her toes and everything seems to be OK in that department, which is wonderfully welcome news.

She didn't go into surgery until 2:30. My son-in-law and I were with her for about 45 minutes beforehand, reassuring, talking, telling jokes and laughing, holding hands ... you know, all that kind of stuff that goes on when people who really care about each other are nervous. It was an anxious time.

Then she went into surgery and I went outside to have half a cancer stick. That's when I discovered my car had been towed. I had left my cell phone in the car (Of course!), so my son-in-law got on his to find out all the poop on where it had been taken, etc. and blah. Oh, my!

While he was doing that, I found my way to the cafeteria. Their offerings included shrimp scampi, which I ordered. I thought, "What's done is done, Goldenrod. Besides, you're hungry, so let's eat." I found a table and ate while playing some solitaire. (It had been years since I'd played solitaire. I can't believe I remembered how!)

And that's where he found me a few minutes later. After giving me the info about my towed car, he asked what I was eating. When I told him, he said, "Hmm!" And then he went to get the same thing. It wasn't bad. It was while we were still there in the cafeteria - I wasn't finished eating yet, but he was! - that his pager thingee went off.

Someone wanted to see us. We were a little nervous about the quickness of the page. After all, it hadn't been 45 minutes yet! What might have gone wrong? We quickly packed up "our" (mostly "my") stuff and went to the second floor, where Dr. Kushwaha was waiting.

He appeared calm, which was immediately reassuring. His first words were, "The surgery is over. Everything went as expected. We removed the .. ... .... and she'll be in recovery shortly." He answered a couple of questions that each of us had, and then gave us an important piece of information that we hadn't known before.

All three of us ... my daughter, my son-in-law and myself ... had heard, over and over again that day, how important it was that she restrict her physical activity for 'x' amount of time after the surgery. We all thought that it was to prevent any more extrusions from the damaged disc.

That's partly it, of course, but the surgeon told both my son-in-law and myself - we were standing there together - that the disc would, if given the uninfringed-upon space and time it needed, repair and seal itself. That sounded almost miraculous to me. I repeated this to my daughter, in my son-in-law's hearing, and he confirmed what I said. My daughter cried out in joy when she heard that. "There could be no better incentive," she said, "to do exactly what the doctor orders."

I had only a couple of bad moments today when, shortly after going into post-op to see my daughter, I thought I was going to pass out. I had to sit down quickly, a couple of different times. Very strange. This happened only once before that I can recall, in 1986, but that's a whole other story for another day.

When we first went in to see her in post-op, she looked exhausted to me ... absolutely exhausted! She was crying. She'd been so afraid she wouldn't wake up. The stress she must have been under the past couple or so weeks cannot really be understood or even imagined by you or me, I dare say.

She kept telling me how glad she was that I was there. I was glad to be there, but I know (for sure!) that I didn't add anything to the mix, except - perhaps - a mother's unequivocal love for her daughter, which she's always had.

I just finished sending her an e-mail. She has her laptop with her. I don't expect her to respond. I hope that she's in neverneversleepytimeland. I'd call my son-in-law, but my phone is in my towed car. Oh, the frustration of it all!

I'll know more tomorrow morning, of course, after he picks me up. Meanwhile, keep your fingers crossed that things are progressing as smoothly as anticipated, and I thank you all - once again - for your positive thoughts and supportive comments.

[9:05pm ... PS ... heard back from my daughter via e-mail ... she was still awake ... said she's "fixin' to" (that's a Texas expression) take another 'walk' and then go to sleep.]

Back surgery

2009-11-03T17:55:00.003-06:00

Not something one wants to contemplate, but when there is constant shooting pain up and down one's left leg 24/7, it's almost as tho that conclusion is inevitable. No, it's not for me. It's for my daughter, and it's coming up tomorrow afternoon at 1pm.

I first heard about this last weekend, when my daughter left a voice message telling me she had something important to talk to me about. It sounded serious, so I got back to her as quickly as I could.

She really didn't have much information to share with me at that point. In fact, I had many more questions than she had answers. She was due to see Dr. Kushwaha at 9:30 this morning. Dr. Kushwaha is the chief spinal surgeon at Methodist Hospital, and a partner of the orthopedic surgeon in whom my daughter has great confidence. (He is the one who recently handled her broken foot so adeptly.)

I just got off of the phone with my son-in-law and took a bunch of notes. I hope I'm relaying everything correctly. Here's the situation ... ... it seems that the lowest disc on her spine erupted - the 'when' or 'cause' are both unknown, exactly - extruding unwanted material that is pressing against a nerve and causing all of the pain.

None of her leg motor functions have been affected, nor should they be by the upcoming surgery. "Where this disc is located," the surgeon said, "no motor nerves are still attached to the spine." In other words, the frightful word "paralyzed" seems to have no place in this conversation.

Still and all, however, it is my daughter and she will be undergoing back surgery. And so, as her mother, to say that I am concerned would be no exaggeration. I'll be at the hospital tomorrow with my son-in-law. One can only hope that I will conduct myself with more decorum than I did the last time I was in a hospital, waiting for her to come out of surgery.

This would have been about 45 years ago. She'd had a terrible bout with the mumps and developed abscesses on both sides, one of which 'popped' and drained itself in the middle of the night, but the other just kept on getting bigger and bigger. It scared the bejaysus out of me! It didn't seem to be painful, but was disfiguring as all get out.

This one would have to be surgically removed. My husband and I were concerned about a lingering and very noticeable scar. The surgeon assured us that any scar would fade and almost completely disappear over the years. (And that reminds me. I'll just have to look at her neck tomorrow when I see her, won't I? We never did order any plastic surgery for her years later.)

Anyway, while she was undergoing that surgery, I paced up and down the hospital halls like a mad woman, bawling my eyes out. Remembering how I acted, I am thoroughly ashamed of myself. I mean, there were children in surgery at that very moment whose lives were at stake, and there I was bawling over an abscess. But, it is what it is, and it was what it was.

Tomorrow's surgery is described as 'non-invasive' ... a 1" incision will be made and the extruded material from the ruptured disc cleaned out* ... a 45-minute procedure, the surgeon said, and she should be up and walking around by 3pm. That last just flabbergasts me! Would that it be so.

Because the procedure is scheduled for the afternoon, they'll keep her overnight for observation. Normal-sounding kind of stuff. *The MRI showed that disc's appearance to be flat. Hopefully, that means that all material that could have been extruded has been, and no plans are in the works as of this writing to remove the disc itself.

[Had a little break there. She called me. Had just woken up from a very long nap. She was exhausted after their almost four-hour visit with the spinal surgeon this morning. Well, not all of it was with the surgeon. Blood tests were ordered and an EKG was administered, as well. All in preparation for tomorrow's surgery.]

Will fill all of you in when I know more. Meanwhile, please say a prayer to help guide the surgeon's hand.

Recollections ...

2009-11-03T12:10:00.003-06:00

... particularly personal ones, such as emotions - how one was feeling at the time, for example, or what one was thinking - can be terribly subjective. And, as a result, inaccurate.

Our memories are colored by the passage of time, by changes in our outlook and perspective, by what's important to us now, by how our definitions have been altered by our experiences, by how we feel or what's happening with or around us at the moment of recollection, by all sorts of different things - some of which we are perhaps unaware.

I don't think I fully realized that until just a few moments ago. I was reading Bug's latest post, where she is beginning a series about her time in Zambia a little more than twenty years ago.

Ten years after she returned, she put together two large scrapbooks - trying to re-create her experiences there - and then wrote a poem in which there is a line that perfectly describes what I was trying to say in the second paragraph of this post ... "remembered as in a dream edited by time reconstructed to suit myself" ... beautifully-expressed, Bug, and so true.

Since January of 2008, when I first began blogging, I have published over 600 posts, nearly half of which are labeled "About me", "Memories", or "Personal thoughts/comments". There is some overlapping, of course, but there is a lot of "me" in my blog.

I haven't been this prolific since the early and mid 80's, when I was going through such an emotional upheaval. I spent many hours writing it all down while it was happening - some in poetry form, but most in prose. It's here. I've saved it. It's pretty raw. Very emotional. I don't like to go back through it. Too painful, for the most part.

Some of the poetry I have shared with you on my blog, that which I wanted you to read. There might be more later. We'll see. Depends on how I feel about it. To describe myself throughout the great majority of my life as an "unrealistic romantic" would be pretty much dead on, I think.

However, there are a number of humorous poems that I have yet to share - ones that have nothing whatever to do with romance. I promise that I will include those in posts further on down the line.

I will be very interested in following Bug's continuing story of her time in Zambia. She went there initially as a part of her church's outreach program that included sending recent college graduates to fill temporary support positions in the foreign mission field, and was in Zambia for approximately 18 months.

I'm sure she has many wonderful stories to share with us, and I'm looking forward to reading every one of them.

Sunday morning

2009-11-01T11:00:00.008-06:00

Well, it's just after 9:30 am now. I've been up for perhaps an hour. I wrote "Bending wire" sometime in the wee hours, just before trying to stay up to watch The Red Shoes, a 1948 ballet film starring Moira Shearer. I couldn't do it. I had to hit the pillow just after her performance in the new ballet, less than halway through the story.

The film goes on to a very tragic ending. Perhaps it will be re-shown later this week - it was playing on our 24/7 local movie channel - and I'll get a chance to watch it in its entirety. I've only seen this movie once before. It has to have been at least fifty years since then, perhaps more. I remembered the glorious photography, the beautiful dancing and - of course, Moira Shearer.

Wiki has a nice writeup about the making of this film which you can read about here, if you're curious and would like to learn more about the story.

I'm all caught up now with my favorite blogs, and I want to give a special shoutout to Steve Davis, our blogger friend from Alberta, Canada. (Not to be confused with Steven, who lives in southeastern Ontario.)

Steve recently got published for the second time outside of the world of philately, this one in an e-zine called Reflective Dog. His current work is a creative nonfiction piece about a bystander who witnesses JFK's assassination.

In his short work, Steve tries to recapture the emotion - the excitement leading up to and then the shock of the actual event. You can read it here, if you'd like.

This past March, Steve could barely contain his excitement as he wrote about his first feature article being chosen for publication in a mainline magazine, Saltscapes.

I had to grit my teeth yet once again, tho, in researching for this post, when I read where he wrote, "The title of the article and it's description is, ... " The bold emphasis is mine. Boy, is that ever a common error! Even among published writers, it would appear. I guess that's what editors are for, huh?

(On June 28th of last year, I published a fairly lengthy dissertation entitled "Its" vs. "It's". That one really sticks in my craw. Two of my blogger friends, who later told me how much they appreciated the lesson and now they completely understood the difference, are STILL making the same error! ? Just shut up, Goldenrod, mind your own business and get on with your post, OK?)

This morning I took some time to go back through a few of Steve's previous posts. I was looking for those where he was chronicling some of his struggles to be a published writer. I found one where he talks about making a resolution to write at least a page a day and another, where he offers quotes from other writers that he's found inspirational when his own resolve seems to falter.

Congratulations, Steve, on your most recent success story. May you have many many more!

Bending wire

2009-11-01T02:00:00.002-06:00

Terry Border has a neat blogsite. Check it out for yourself. It's light-hearted and fun.

He recently published a book called Bent Objects: The Secret Life of Everyday Things. Then last Saturday (a week ago), on his site, he told about an idea he'd had for how people could order a copy directly from him. He'll autograph it and even make doodles on it if you wish. He says he doesn't draw, he doodles.

I first came upon his name as a direct result of reading one of Whalechaser's posts. I've been doing a bit of catching up lately. She had the following trailer for his book on her site ... ...

It intrigued me so much that I thought I'd find out a bit more about this man and share that information with you.

Well! Come to find out that he's got all sorts of ideas for promoting his income-producing hobby, including greeting cards that will be carried by Target stores. Says he's seen a couple in stores already.

For a delightful few minutes, spend some time on Terry's site. I think you'll find yourself smiling, perhaps even chuckling a time or two.

My day ...

2009-10-31T17:25:00.002-05:00

... actually began in the middle of the night. I had the most restless night, tossing and turning and then getting up to either use the ladies' or walk around a bit. My right leg was threatening to severely cramp up every so often - one of those utterly devastating cramps that, if you let it really get hold of your leg, you cry out in agony and it takes many minutes to go away.

Then I was cold. I put another blanket on the bed and waited for my body to get all nice and toasty warm. Finally, I fell asleep and was very rudely awakened at 7am by my alarm going off. I thought, "What the devil is that horrible noise?" before realizing what it was, then turned over and snoozed until it went off again.

Fred Wang's memorial service was scheduled to be held at 9:30 this morning and I had told myself that I would go if the weather held. Well, it was just gorgeous outside. Quite a change from all the stormy weather we've had. To say that all of the ground in the Houston area is saturated would not be an exaggeration.

I am so glad I went. The wing of the funeral home where Fred's memorial service was held was filled to capacity and there were flowers everywhere! I recognized three or four others from the world of duplicate bridge, but the rest were complete strangers to me. Except for Amy, of course.

It was a Buddhist ceremony ... lots of chanting, incense and bowing. There was a formal viewing of the body, where one could bow or whatever - stopping to say a word or prayer, perhaps, as they passed by. I was one of the first ones through this long line and didn't realize the proper protocol until much much later, after I had already gone right by Amy without saying a word, bowing, or anything. I was too busy trying to find out where I was supposed to go next.

Then, on the other side, I walked behind his daughter and two others in the immediate family w/o realizing that I was to walk in front of them and offer whatever condolences I had to share. I thought, because I could see what no one else in front of me was doing, that I should not walk in front - that I should try to avoid obstructing the family's view of the proceedings. Oh, my! I sincerely hope that I did not offend anyone. That would have been the furthest thing from my mind.

Concluding the ceremony were statements by Fred's two children. His daughter read hers, which consisted of several typewritten pages. She talked about how Fred had shared his love of music with her and the many times the two of them had gone to Jones Hall to hear the symphony. They would sneak up front - he had bought cheap seats in the back - so she could see all the instruments and identify them. They would listen to the music being played and try to name the composer and composition w/o referring to the program. She had many heartwarming stories to share about her times with her father. It sounded like they were very close.

Fred's son, on the other hand, went up front to speak with no notes and began his statement with (something like), "My father and I did not get along very well." He had trouble completing even that little bit before he broke down into tears and was unable to continue for a few minutes. Gradually, however, he was able to compose himself and went on to deliver some very stirring remarks about the family's time together, including their celebration of Fred's 60th birthday just last month.

Well, that's how my day began. It was my very first time at a Buddhist memorial service. Should I ever have occasion to go again, I hope I'll remember how to conduct myself.

Afterwards, I went on a serious hunt for 12" by 36" furnace filters. Do you remember my decrying - some time back - the shock I felt when Randall's (from whom I had always bought my filters!) changed their filter brands and raised the price like 3X?

I had been paying those exorbitant prices and using those filters w/o realizing that anything was amiss until my ARS guy told me that those filters were way too heavy duty and causing my AC and furnace to work too hard. The air draw was just too much, he said. Ye gods! When I told him how much I had been paying for them, as well, he could hardly believe it.

I asked him where I could find ones like he was talking about, but he couldn't help me. Well, shuckeydurn anyway! And so, whenever I was at a store - HEB, Randall's, Kroger's, whatever, I looked. They all had furnace filters, but either not in my size or the 'way too heavy duty' kind that cost more than $20 apiece.

Anyway, today was going to be the day, I decided. There's a Home Depot a couple of miles from my house. I thought I'd try there first. Bingo! Not only in my size, but the price per each is a little less than $5!! I bought three. I'm supposed to change these out once a month, he told me. Tomorrow's November 1st. What better date than the first of every month, right?

So, I'm good to go until February 2010. Does that sound like a date way in the future or what?

Tonight I'm going to treat myself - have been doing a lot of that lately! - to The Kid. This is a 2000 film starring Bruce Willis as a highly successful but unhappy image consultant who changes his life completely after being visited by himself as an 8-year-old. It's a fable, of course, but a movie with a really good story. And, of course, there's a lesson to be learned.

I've seen this movie once before and am looking forward to watching it again. During commercials, I'll be flipping over to the World Series, game three. Somehow or another, game two completely escaped my attention. I enjoyed watching game one, where the Yankees got creamed. What happened in game two? Well, I'll find out tonight, won't I?

I like Bruce Willis! Do you? The movie I'll be watching this evening reminds me a bit of the role he played in another film, The Sixth Sense. This 1999 film stars Bruce as a child psychologist who is trying to help a young boy who says he sees dead people who don't realize they're dead. It's a dandy! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. There's nothing macabre or creepy scary about it, I assure you, although there are some parts that are a little unnerving. No zombies or anything of that nature. Don't let my synopsis turn you off. Another really good story.

I finally sent Marilyn Methvin, my New Orleans bridge-playing friend, an e-mail telling her that I was playing some bridge online with Bridge Base. I heard back from her a short while ago. Her user name is "aztecroi", don't you just love it? Mine is "hmm7". Boring, huh?

ANYhoo, that's my day for Saturday, October 31st. Tonight, while all of the ghosties and goblins and mischief makers are out and about, I'll be here at home minding my own business and trying to stay out of trouble. What will you be doing?

Childhood memories

2009-10-30T10:55:00.004-05:00

I was lying in bed last night, luxuriating (Have I ever told you that I love my bed? I love my bed!) in a sort of dream state and expecting at any moment to fall back again into a deep sleep, when my mind turned to thoughts of David Gehringer.

David Gehringer is the little boy who lived directly across the road from us many many years ago when we lived 'out in the country' on West Arndale Road in Stow, Ohio. Daddy was working for either Goodyear or Goodrich in Akron, I forget which. He was a research chemist and we had moved to Ohio from Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I was born.

I can't think of a single good reason why we were living so far away from daddy's work, or why we were raising chickens ... Rhode Island Reds, they were. We had all sorts of bugs and critters and mice and - oh, yes! A very large outdoor-type cat that loved first playing with, then finally dispatching and perhaps even eating some of whatever she had chosen to make her prey that hour. She kept the larger rodents well under control - a very good thing.

David and I were exactly the same age, still not in school, and spent many hours together running, climbing trees, gathering eggs (his family raised chickens, too) and playing doctor under this humongous tree in our yard. This last activity seemed to cause Mother no end of worry, and she frequently would come out to where we were (carrying lemonade or cookies, or anything that would serve as a reasonable excuse for her intruding into our professional activities) just to see what was 'going on'.

Well, what was going on was that we were simply and quite properly playing doctor. David was the doctor and I was his nurse. One of my dolls would be our patient. We would examine the doll, feel it all over to see where it hurt and stuff like that. As I recall, we even had a make-believe stethoscope. We could spend literally hours playing doctor. It's funny now, trying to imagine it. Can't, really.

Have you ever gathered eggs? Feeling under a hen's bottom for an egg is such a neat experience ... really soft and warm. The eggs have little feathers and stuff stuck to them. Not all clean and smooth like you see in the stores.

Whenever Mother wanted to cook up some chicken for supper, she'd go out into the yard and grab one, lay it on a big old stump and chop its head off with an axe. Afterwards, we got to watch the chicken running around in circles missing its head. That was the darndest thing! We had to stay well away, because there'd be blood and goo flying everywhere for a while.

The farm behind us had a large field which backed up to our property. In that large field, which was enclosed by one of these wooden cross hatch type fences - great for climbing on, resided a large bull. We used to like to climb on the fence and watch the bull graze. Every now and then he'd look over our way and give a little snort. We always kept our distance.

David was the baby in his family. (In mine, there was still just my sister and me. Johnny hadn't come along yet.) He had an older brother who owned a Model A - or Model T - Ford that had a rumble seat. Every once in a while, he would give David and me a ride in it. What a special treat that was!

Oh, the things that just come into your mind while you're lying there in bed. It's odd, I think, that I remember so clearly how to spell David's last name. I wonder if he's still around?

Remembering Fred Wang

2009-10-29T17:45:00.002-05:00

The Houston duplicate bridge world lost another of its more faithful members this past week. Fred Wang, who could most often be seen playing with his wife, Amy, died on Friday, October 23rd.

I last saw Fred about a month ago, when I was getting my September 'Evelyn Berger fix'. And that reminds me. Evelyn and I haven't played yet this month, and time is a flittin'. Must give her a call.

Evelyn and I were sitting N-S in one section and Fred and his wife N-S in another. So we were sitting the same direction in different sections, except Fred was seated South and I was seated North. We could easily just glance up and meet each other's eyes without even turning our heads.

Thinking back on that day, I remember feeling from time to time that someone was staring at me. I'd look up and it would be Fred, quietly watching from just a few tables away. I'd meet and hold his eyes for a few seconds and then transfer my attention back to what was happening at my own table.

The Wangs have been around the world of duplicate quite a few years, but it had been a while since I'd last seen them. I hadn't really thought much about not seeing them. You know, people come and go and I don't play every single day. Our playing schedules could have been different. Besides that, there are several venues in the area from which to choose. I mean, there could have been any number of reasons why our paths hadn't crossed.

But I remember thinking, when I saw them again just recently, how thin Fred looked ... not gaunt, really, but very thin. I thought, "I wonder if he has been ill?" I said nothing aloud other than telling him how wonderful I thought it was to see him again. He smiled and said something polite in return.

An uncommonly good-looking man, Fred and his wife made a strikingly handsome couple and were formidable opponents. He will be dearly mised.

A memorial service will be held Saturday morning at Winford Funerals, 8514 Tybor Drive. This street is very near the intersection of 59 and Gessner. I am planning to attend if there aren't thunderstorms all about. We've had more than our share of those lately!

The family is asking that anyone who wishes to make a donation in Fred's memory add their contribution to the Fred Wang Memorial Scholarship through The Esperanza Education Fund, which awards college scholarships to immigrant students. Fred's daughter, Alice, has become quite active in that non-profit organization.

Contributions can be made online at www.esperanzafund.org/support/#Donate, or mailed to The Esperanza Education Fund, P.O. Box 27507, Washington, DC 20038.

My monitor

2009-10-25T07:25:00.002-05:00

How many of you remember about this time last year, shortly after Ike blew through, that my monitor died? I wrote about it September 21st in one of my "Bits & pieces" posts.

Well, actually I had begun writing about it a week or so earlier, but it was not until the 21st that my son-in-law had a chance (Things didn't get back to 'normal' in their household - or anybody's in the Houston area, as a matter of fact! - for quite some time.) to come over and officially pronounce it deceased. "We said a few choice words over it," I wrote, and then he went over to WalMart - there's one just around the corner from here - to get me another.

All was working well until mid-September this year, when - all of a sudden, while working at the computer, the screen on the monitor went completely white.

I took my big keyboard off the top of the closed computer where it was resting - love my big keyboard! - and opened it up to see what its screen looked like. Perfectly normal. I thought, "Hmmm!"

I checked all of the obvious connections (There are plugs and wires everywhere!), but could see nothing amiss. I even wiggled and jiggled a few. Nothing on the monitor but white. I moved some dust around and blew like crazy. Still no change.

I decided to leave the computer alone for awhile and come back to it later. I thought, "Maybe I'm on it too much." I mean, what did I know?

And so I did. Later, I came back in here, jiggled the mouse a bit and discovered that the monitor appeared to be working just fine. Whaat?! I went back to doing whatever it was that I had stopped doing when everything went white in the first place.

About five minutes later, however, the same thing happened. Nothing but white on the big screen, but everything A-OK on the little. Hmmm! I waited a day or so before calling my son-in-law to ask his opinion about what was going on. I wanted to see if the process would repeat itself over and over again. (I was particularly interested in seeing what would happen after being away from it for several hours, such as overnight.) It did.

I called my son-in-law. He asked me all of the obvious questions. Had I moved anything? Had I accidentally kicked and dislodged something with my feet? Had I checked all of the connections? Etc. and blah. His opinion - without actually making the trip over here to look at it - was that the monitor was dying. "But," he added, "until the monitor screen is white all of the time, I can't be sure."

Well, it wasn't white all of the time ... only after I'd been working at the computer for about five minutes. But then, just a couple of days later, it happened. The screen turned white and just stayed that way, 24/7. I e-mailed my son-in-law, who asked when I wanted him to come over. He had an extra monitor I could use, he said.

The truth? I didn't want him to come over. The house was an absolute mess. "Worse than ever!" I told him. Besides, I was getting used to working off of the little screen with my big old keyboard sitting on top of those little dinky keys. Only I had to be careful where I set the keyboard down. Have you ever had a 'stuck' key? Seriously interferes with your ability to sign in and type messages or blogs and makes all sorts of weird sounds.

I did have one question for him, tho. Did he think there could be a possible short somewhere, either in one of the cords or plugs? I mean, I had been sniffing like crazy and looking as hard as I could, but could detect nothing that smelled or looked 'hot'. (Bein' as how I'm a smoker, I've always been extra aware of how quickly and easily things can accidentally get set on fire. I've never in my life smoked in bed, for example. Can't even imagine such a thing!)

No, he didn't think so, he said, but I continued my sniffing and looking routine anyway. But then, just a couple of days later, a really strange thing happened. The monitor screen all of a sudden started working again - some of the time, at least as well as it did before its 'all white all the time' existence. What the devil?!

If I came in here and there was a white glow in the room, I knew it was deader than a doornail. However, if I came in here and there was no white glow, I knew that it would be working for however long it chose to before going white again. And the times varied ... usually only a very few minutes, just like it had when I first noticed that something was wrong.

I reported this to my son-in-law, who had not the vaguest idea what was happening. I got used to just ignoring the big screen and leaving the little computer open with the big keyboard on top for my use.

But then an even stranger thing happened. I had been sitting here, working away at whatever - maybe even playing Bridge Base Online - when I realized that the monitor screen had been working for perhaps an hour or so. Hmmm! I reported this to my son-in-law, who said, "Hmmm!"

It worked perfectly fine all that day and the next, but then went back into its 'fussy' mode of coming and going as it pleased - all white and nothing working one hour, screen working for about five minutes after startup the next. I became quite used to expecting absolutely anything.

However - there always seems to be a 'however', doesn't there? - it has decided to work 24/7 again for reasons known only to it. For the past three days or so, I have been enjoying the wide screen. Oh, the luxury of it all!

This monitor's problems are very different from what happened last year! When that monitor died, it was a complete and utter 'black death'. No on again/off again white screen, no startup teasers, nothing. I still think it was fried by all of the power surges that came along after Ike, but we'll never know for sure. I mean, no autopsy was conducted or anything.

I asked my son-in-law how long monitors are supposed to last, and he told me that the times varied. The other one that I'd had had been in the family for a few years, so he wasn't too surprised when it gave out, but I wasn't the least bit pleased that this one started acting up when it was barely a year old. I didn't like that one little bit!

One might even suspect that they build things nowadays with little timers set to go off a day or two after the warranty expires and start things going awry, mightn't one?

Simon Says ... #1

2009-10-24T18:30:00.005-05:00

Do you remember, as a child, playing "Mother, may I?" I think this was probably more of a girl's game. Boys were busy climbing trees - altho I did a bunch of that myself (In fact, I used to have about an 8" long scar on the side of my upper right leg that has faded a bunch over these many years. I got it from falling out of a tree and landing on a board that had this rusty old nail in it. Had to get a tetanus shot, stitches and all those other awful things.) - and playing cowboys and Indians.

There's a word game I dearly love that reminds me a bit of "Mother, may I?" It's called Simon Says. "Mother", of course, was very much a popularity contest. Whomever was currently in favor with 'mother' always won the game. As I said, a girl's thing.

Anyway, this is the first in what will be a series of Simon Says puzzles for you to solve. (Btw, folks, I'm only going to publish those that I find particularly amusing.) However, there will be no 'mother' to tell you whether you may or may not do something. With Simon Says, you must do the steps in the order presented and follow the directions exactly in order to arrive at the correct solution, which will be an amusing word or phrase that is apropos to where you started.

Only rarely do I get it right the first time, so have a little patience. Ready? Here we go with the first one.

1. Print the words MAD MITES ON THE MOON.
2. Change the A to a U.
3. Remove the center letter.
4. Swap the second vowel (A, E, I, O, or U) with the fourth consonant. (When directions like these are given, always assume that they mean starting from the left.)
5. Move the S to the very end of the row.
6. Remove one O.
7. Change the first letter to the letter that immediately precedes it in the alphabet.
8. Repeat step 3.
9. Swap the second consonant with the eighth consonant.
10. Insert a K immediately before the last letter.
11. Remove all M's.
12. Change the eleventh letter to the letter that immediately precedes it in the alphabet.
13. Remove the word THE.
14. Change the E to an A.
15. Remove the O.
16. Move the A two places to the left.

Did you have some fun with this game? What did you end up with? If you had LUNATICKS, you were correct. (If not, you need to start all over again. Be more careful this time.)

If you were really intrigued by this kind of puzzle and would like to see a bunch more, I'm sorry to tell you that you're in for a bit of a disappointment. You will notice, depending upon which store you are in, all sorts of different puzzle books and magazines. Generally speaking, however, only one or two Simon Says appear in any one issue - and there don't appear to be any large volumes of this particular kind of puzzle available from the publishers, as there are for many others.

Jacky, there's one coming up for you in the near future, but - unfortunately - I have misplaced it at the present time. It's here, somewhere. lol

PS. Tammy, your girls might have fun with these!

The booboo ...

2009-10-19T14:00:00.000-05:00

... has been kissed and all is well again. I'm talking about my garbage disposal situation, of course.

"The man" came from ARS this morning, as advertised. Boy, do they ever have efficient and nice people! I think - over the years, and I've had various ones here from time to time - I might have had only one that I had kind of mixed feelings about.

[In fact, before I continue on with this post, I just have to call ARS to commend them for their service.]

Done.

He couldn't have been here more than 40 minutes from start to finish. We jabbered almost the whole time, mostly about him fishing out in the Gulf yesterday and the pretty good-sized sunburn he had acquired because his friend had forgotten his hat and my serviceman loaned him his because he 'didn't need it'. lol

We visited some about Ike's effects over there where he lives (Anahuac .. look it up on a Texas map, it's east of Houston), about my dad's fishing "prowess" ... about all sorts of things, actually, but mainly we talked about garbage disposals.

When I had called ARS last Thursday to inquire about possible charges to replace a garbage disposal, the gal at the other end of the line was reluctant to give me any kind of quote because "Sometimes," she said, "the whole sink has to be replaced."

I thought, "Oh, Lord!" Well, whatever it took, I was going to have to do it.

Do you guys have any idea how long garbage disposals are supposed to last? I certainly didn't, altho I was fairly certain that I was probably setting some kind of world's record with mine!

My second husband and I bought this townhouse in - let's see, 1977? 8? - something like one of those and the house was only about two or three years old at the time. Certainly less than five.

My 30+ year old deader-than-the-proverbial-doornail garbage disposal was majestically carried out of the house by the ARS repair guy, and I'm hoping that plans are underway for a burial befitting such a royal one.

I asked - just as kind of a curious question - how long garbage disposals are supposed to last, theoretically. His answers?

You're not going to believe this, folks. At no time did any of his answers exceed ten years. Just incredible!

Even more incredible, however, is that he replaced my original 30+ yr. old garbage disposal with one of the same brand. I find that extremely funny!

What is not so funny is that this garbage disposal has a warranty of only two years. I repeat, two years! (For another $200, I could have gotten a warranty good for five years. "My man" did not recommend that I spend the extra money.)

You know what? If this all wasn't the God's honest truth, it would be hysterical!

I don't find it hysterical at all. I find it a terribly sad sign of the times, actually.

SO, how are all your appliances/gadgets working these days?

Predators ... ...

2009-10-17T16:25:00.000-05:00

Everywhere, it seems, there are predators. You have to be so very careful. Even then you can be caught off guard, as I was about an hour ago.

I wrote a short piece for the Examiner about a week or so ago, in which I was talking about some of my experiences with Bridge Base Online. I hope you've had a chance to read the article.

Well, earlier today I was playing again and was invited to play in a tournament coming up in 42 minutes by "Pegasus66". Without thinking about who it was who had invited me, I accepted. Almost immediately, I regretted the acceptance, and sent him a "I do not wish to hear from you again today, this afternoon, tomorrow, or EVER!" type of message and then logged off.

"Pegasus66" is the user name for a Bridge Base Online sexual predator. I've been chronicling his suggestive comments to me for a few days now, in preparation for a written complaint to the BBO 'powers that be' - in hopes that he might be either officially reprimanded or permanently removed - but he caught me by surprise by an invitation out of the blue to play in a tournament. He's never done THAT before!

Just as soon as I finish publishing this, I'll log back in to BBO and see what my status is. The tournament - supposedly - began 20 minutes ago. More later!