Night Blooming Cereus
I missed it again! I've had this night blooming cereus for over 30 years. It came from our neighbor at Cobbs Corners, --Grandma Rickey. She was tired of it because it hadn't bloomed and its leaves are long and sprawling. I was intrigued by this plant and have kept it all these years.
The night blooming cereus does just what its name says. It blooms at night. In the morning, the bloom is spent. My plant usually has a couple blooms late in the summer. I try to notice when the buds are swelling into an egg shape, getting ready to bloom. It takes several weeks from bud to bloom. Then suddenly, one night, the bloom opens into a beautiful, huge, white flower that looks like it's been shaped in wax. It has a nice smell that's very distinctive.
Sometimes I pick the bloom before I go to bed and put it in the refrigerator and then I can look at it in the morning. But if I don't notice it and don't pick it when it blooms, in the morning it is hanging limp, no longer lovely.
I missed it this year. It bloomed last week while I was busy with company and celebration and I didn't notice. I saw on Saturday that the two blooms were hanging limp.
It makes me think of a phrase from an old hymn, "Perishing things of clay, born for but one brief day." The song isn't about the night blooming cereus, but its bloom certainly is born for but one brief night.
Here is a link to see a picture of the night blooming cereus: http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/july/papr/nbcereus.html
Finished
I now have cause to celebrate a small victory. I have finished the newsletter. I didn't meet my deadline but it should be in the hands of the people before next Sunday and that's worth celebrating. It took me all morning to get it finished. It doesn't take as much time when I have collected more news. It slows me down a lot when I have to hunt for fillers to polish it off. It's done for September! Now I have to start collecting news for October. But first, a small celebration before I turn to the next item of business.
Did You Ever Notice?
Did you ever notice that there are some people you just obey without questions and others you listen to and do it your own way?
One of my friends, Min, is the kind that commands obedience. At the party last Tuesday, she was happy to see T. who was helping me with party stuff. "Come and talk to me," Min ordered. T. wanted to continue what she was doing but when Min says, "Sit with me and talk to me," that's what you do. I understood that T. had to do it.
Some people think that Min is like that because she was a school teacher. I'm not sure. I have another friend who commands obedience. She was a nurse. When she says, "It must be done this way," the only response is, "Yes, ma'am!"
For most people, we could say, "I'll come in a few minutes, when I find someone to take over this job I'm doing," or, "I had in mind that we could do it another way."
Feast and Then a Famine
My grandma Emma used to say, "Feast and then a famine." I knew what she meant, --that lots of good things go on and then there are days and days with nothing special at all.
My feast and famine is about exercise. I didn't do any walking in the last several days. But today I exercised at Aquarobics this morning and then this evening walked 11 laps on the track at the high school. Let me tell you, it feels good! Now, tomorrow. I don't want there to be a famine tomorrow. I need to work in some exercise tomorrow, too.
Let Down
Today I can't get myself in gear to do the many, many things I should do to get caught up with life after the exciting week I had last week. I think it's the let down after the wonderful high.
But I've started to push ahead now and get at the newsletter. I got the recipe page written and printed. That's not much but it's a start. Once I break through the inertia, I get the momentum going. I should have the newsletter done some time tomorrow. And it's only about 5 days late, but it's my own deadline so I guess I can break my own rule if I think it will do me good.
The Bluejays
The bluejays have discovered my Critter Log. Each morning they check it out and eat some peanutbutter "birdcake" out of the holes where I stuffed it. The log I chose has a couple of snag branches on it and that gives them a place to perch. I didn't realize when I grabbed the log out of the firewood pile how important those snags would be.
The blue jays are a big bird when you compare them to sparrows or wrens. I know that blue jays have a reputation for being pesky but these haven't been pests at all. They come early in the morning and then go somewhere else.
They are very welcome at my feeders. I do love to see them.
I Confess
I was trying not to give in to the pain, but right now I confess that I did get too much sun on Friday. It's mostly in one spot in the front on the left. I don't know if I missed the spot when applying lotion or I took the rays differently there. My back is fine. Everything else is fine. My nose is slightly pink but not in pain.
I got out the Noxzema and have been using it to soothe my tortured skin. I first became acquainted with Noxzema when I was a junior in high school. Miss Bushnell cast me in the school play. I was Doris in the play Our Miss Brooks. The story line is that a high school class puts on a play. Doris, in the play in the play, wore big paper flowers in her hair and had her eyebrows pencilled into high dark arches and wore lots of makeup. After the dress rehearsal I found that the makeup irritated my skin something awful. Miss B. recommended that we use Noxzema to bring relief. The Noxzema brought the healing I needed. Ever since then, I've kept a jar of it around so that when I have skin irritations, I have immediate help.
I think another day or two will bring me the healing I need for this relatively small spot of sunburn. It doesn't have to be a big area to keep one in constant reminder that there is a sore spot! But finally, I'm confessing that I stayed in the sun a little too long. I feel like I should have known better. At least it's not a burn everywhere the sun touched my skin. Just thinking that brings relief.
The Lesson Leaf
This morning while I was thinking about Psalm 8, which is our Sunday school lesson this morning, I was thinking that it would be easy to print it out on a single page and read it together that way. And just like that, memory took me back to my teen years in the church on Victoria Avenue where it was my job to pass out the lesson leaf to those who needed it.
We each had our own "quarterly," --a word which meant to me "study manual" and that to me was the only meaning of the word. There were always those who forgot to bring their quarterlies, and there would be guests who didn't have a quarterly, thus we had the lesson leaf, a single page with the Bible text printed to make it easier for the student to follow along when we would read the Bible text together. We haven't had a lesson leaf for over 30 years and I'd almost forgotten it altogether.
I was very happy to have a job to do in the church on Sunday morning. It nurtured my sense of belonging. I'm sorry that we don't have the lesson leaf nowadays. Someone needs that job.
Then and Now
Now that the party's over and my company has gone home, I had a good bit of laundry to do, --towels and sheets. It made me think about when I was first married and had a good bit of laundry to do on some occasion. I started out with a wringer washer and an outdoor clothes line, or hanging clothes in a spare room in the winter.
Today I might feel like I had a lot of laundry to take care of, three loads, but when I remember what it was like when I was first responsible for doing the laundry, I realize that today's job was nothing.
I would have to stay with the wash until the clothes were all washed, rinsed and wrung out and then I'd have had to put them on the clothes lines outside till the lines were full and hope to get them all dried by taking down the dry ones and hanging up the wet ones. But then, I'd have had to yank the damp stuff off the clothes line and bring them inside when it started to rain. But when it quit raining, I could have hung things out on the line again to finish up.
Doing the laundry today wasn't a big deal after all!
My Wedding Picture
This is my wedding picture, taken on August 24, 1956.
At the Beach
I always take a book with me when I go to the beach. One of the pleasures of being at the beach is spending a little of the time reading. I didn't see many people reading but there was one woman sitting in a lawn chair right at the water's edge, reading. I wanted to ask her what she was reading but she was near the end of the book and I thought she might be deeply into the book and not welcome an interruption so I didn't ask. I got a good bit read in the book that I'd brought.
I stayed out in the sun too long because in the shade, away from the water, there were biting flies. They were so pesky that I had to stay away from them. And I didn't realize that I was getting so much sun. It's subtle. The redness, for me, didn't show up until much later.
Walking in the sand takes lots more energy than walking on a path. I was very tired last night.
A Very Good Day
First my husband and I went back to the Regional Cancer Center for his monthly dose of Zometa and another check up with the blood specialist. It's very good news. His blood is slowly building up and he's doing very well. The PSA was .28, which is wonderful, meaning that the cancer is fully arrested.
Then we joined the rest of the family at Beach 7 on Presque Isle and had a picnic lunch. My husband came on home and I stayed with the family. I did aquarobic exercise in Lake Erie. It's harder to do the exercises there than in the pool at the Y. I worked hard at the exercise. Sarah, the youngest, exercised with me.
We didn't get home till 8 this evening. Everyone is tired and very willing to get to bed. It's been a good day.
On a Day Like Today
It's a beautiful morning. On a day like today, I look for good things to happen.
We have plans to go to the beach at Presque Isle, have a picnic lunch and play in the sand and water. We should try out the new sand toy today. Last year I forgot about it and when my other son and his family were here it wasn't good beach weather and we didn't get there.
On a day like today, it could be a very exciting.
In Memory
I received word this evening that Mom's youngest brother died today. Uncle Howard must be about 80 years old. He was our neighbor when I was a girl. He lived in the house just down the hill from us, almost to the bottom of the hill. He was a great neighbor and a valued family member.
My mom's family wasn't very demonstrative about love the way my dad's family was. I remember Uncle Howard as being quiet and reserved. He worked with his hands, ---being a skilled mechanic and also doing work with wood.
My best memory of Uncle Howard is when I was going to make a long distance trip alone and I was really uptight about it. I'd stayed overnight with my parents and was heading out to get an early start on my trip. I was so nervous about starting that somehow I put the wrong key into the ignition of the car and it really stuck there. We asked Uncle Howard to help. He did his magic with the key and the ignition and got it all fixed up for me. And then while I was trying to thank him, he said, "I think you need a hug." Oh, boy! Did I ever need a hug. I was so stressed! I'll never forget how much that hug meant to me. It really did ease the strain as I headed out for my long journey alone. I remember the hug and the love as I state once more, "I love you, Uncle Howard."
Peach Cobbler Today
My husband brought home a peck basket of fresh peaches and they're ready to eat RIGHT NOW. So, I made peach cobbler for dessert for lunch. It turned out just right (she said modestly). I can't believe how good it tasted. Sometimes things do work out right.
First Day of School
We live across the street from an elementary school. Today is the first day of school for the new year. My friend, the librarian, has been back to school for two weeks. The rest of the teachers have been back to school for two days. Now it's the kids' turn. It's interesting to watch all the cars bringing the kids for their first day back.
Naomi, a fifth grader in the school across the street, went with us on our trip to Erie yesterday. She told me that she knows who her new teacher is. They have a new principal this year, and he went to school with her mom. She wanted to buy some new school supplies but her mom thought they should wait till they found out if there was going to be any requirements for her class this year. I wish I could wave to Naomi this morning as she goes into school. She was feeling that edge of "first day" newness and excitement.
Have a great school day, Naomi!
The Planetarium
After we toured the Watson-Curtze Mansion, we went next door to the Planetarium. It's not a big place but it's packed with displays and information. The program they were showing was Ring World and it was about, in their words, Saturn, Lord of the Rings.
In January the Cassini Huygens spacecraft will be sending back to us more information than we've ever known before about the planet Saturn. The Cassini part of the spacecraft will remain in orbit around the planet and the part named Huygens will be activated to leave the craft and make a descent to pick up more information about the planet. This should be an exciting report.
It's so hard for me to grasp the concept of the vastness of space and how far away Saturn really is.
If you want to read more about this spacecraft which has been on its mission for many months and has recently begun its mission to explore Saturn, here is the link.
Watson-Curtze Mansion
Today I went with a group of friends to Erie. First we had dinner together and then we went to tour the Watson-Curtze Mansion. It's a lovely old home, dating from the 1890's.
First the Watsons lived in the house and then sold the home to the Curtze family in 1923. The house became a museum in 1941 after Mr. Curtze died.
The room I liked best was the room that had been the bedroom for the Watson's daughter Winifred. This bedroom was SPACIOUS. It was arranged apparently like it had been when Winifred was a young girl. There were two large and beautiful doll houses. There were built in shelves for rather extensive doll collection. I thought about my new friend, Leslie's comment on her blog about porcelain dolls heads staring with creepy eyes. I didn't think the dolls faces were creepy except for maybe one very small doll with a dead white face. B. commented on that doll saying that she had a French doll that was something like it. She thought it might be a valuable item. B. has a number of dolls but not a huge collection.
I liked the room, not especially because of the dolls, but because of the spaciousness. It must have been a wonderful play room for rainy days. There was room for several more doll houses. None of the dolls in the collection were the right kind to play dolls with, but it must have been fun to furnish the doll houses and to arrange and rearrange the furniture. A little girl would need several good friends to play with in that big room. It would have made a great setting for an afternoon tea party, complete with dressing up and a maid to serve the cakes and tea.
There were no books in the library, which would have been my favorite room if it had held lots of books and cozy reading nooks. I don't know where the books were. Now the library was furnished with collectible knick knacks, valuable and old.
Another place I liked was the train room in the basement. It was set up with three trains running a course through and around a little village. The trains snaked through a maze crossing in front of each other and never having a mishap, --a finely tuned set up. The trains were from a family named Groters and were not part of the two families who had lived in the house.
Being Economical
I mentioned before that since we were both college students when we married, we did everything the most economically that we could. Fortunately for us, my Uncle Hienie (his nickname was given to him by his Army buddies because he liked Hieniken Beer best) knew people who gave us discounts for things we needed.
He got us our wedding invitations at cost. I thought they were the neatest thing, the nicest I'd ever seen. It was a design of hearts that opened at the center of the front of the card and folded into itself. I have seen others in that fashion since then and I still think they are really beautiful cards.
But Uncle Hienie didn't know a baker, and neither did we. We had to order a cake from a bakery. It was the biggest expense of the wedding.
We didn't have a honeymoon. We needed to get to school and set up housekeeping in our apartment there. So we headed back to school, to Nyack, NY, and still being practical, we took Ellen back with us. Ellen was pinching pennies as hard as we were and it was the most economical way we could think of for her to get to school, too.
Marlin worked for the school in the maintenance department. Because of that, he was able to get us a one room apartment in the basement of the newly opened men's dorm, Mosley Hall. We paid $15 a month for that little apartment and it suited our needs wonderfully. I got a job as a checkout clerk at Grand Union, a grocery store. We lived frugally but we were together.
It was Wonderful
Everyone has gone home now and those two and a half hours went by in a blur. It was really wonderful. I can't tell you how many people were here. There was no way to count them. I hadn't assigned anyone to the guest book so I'm sure some didn't notice it. Maybe tomorrow when we look over the cards and pictures, we'll get some idea of who all came.
There was some cake left, but not so much that we'll have to worry about how to eat it all. Our son and his wife and family arrived about 6:30 and they will be here till the weekend. The cake will be consumed in good time.
My friend, Terri, came about 5:30 and helped me get the tables set up with the food, the coffee and punch. She also brought sandwiches and blueberry cake to add to the feast. She and my daughter-in-law kept the food flow going and washed up plates and silverware as it was needed.
The whole thing is much like my wedding itself, a blur of happy memories. It was a perfect evening for this celebration. The weather was just right! Carolyn, my back door neighbor, brought over their lawn chairs to add to our porch. The porch was full of people, as were the dining room, living room and kitchen and everyone was beaming with happiness for us.
Contented sigh!
The Music
It's getting closer to party time and I'm just doing fussy little things right now. And my mind is working on memories. While I wait for the cake to arrive, I'm remembering the music at our wedding.
I asked our neighbor, Stella Fredericks, to play the organ. Richard Miller, a young man from our church, was our soloist. Here again my memory falters. I know we had him sing Submission, (The path that I have trod has led me nearer God, though oft it led through sorrow's gates. Tho not the way I'd choose, in my way I might lose the joy that yet for me awaits.) Overshadowed, (I'm overshadowed by His wondrous love . . .) and a third song. I cannot remember what it was but my husband thinks it was Saviour Like a Shepherd Lead Us. It may have been.
With music like that, I didn't need to carry a Bible to make a statement about my personal commitment to my Lord.
Stella Fredericks is in her 90s now and her daughter, Nancy Pearl, tells me that she still plays the piano at the nursing home in Florida where she is a resident.
I seldom see Richard and haven't heard him sing in years. He lives in Ohio and sometimes gets back to our home church, but I seldom get there, so we haven't been there at the same time for years.
I've never heard my songs sung at any other wedding. It's uniquely my own. I'm still submitted to God's will, and I still feel overshadowed by His love. If we did use the Shepherd song, that's one we share with lots of other wedding couples.
The cake has arrived! A gift from our up-the-hill neighbors, George and Ginny. I'm overwhelmed. It's gorgeous, and HUGE! Come have a piece of cake with us.
Learning to Cook
When I talked to my parents about getting married on August 24, just before going back to college for my junior year, they gave me permission. I was still 19 and at that time we needed our parents permission to marry before 21.
Mom decided that since I'd be getting married at the end of summer, I should take over the kitchen chores so I'd know how to cook when I got married. I already did know a good bit about cooking since there were times when I would make dinner while my mom did a sewing project for me that was too tough for me. But now, she had me do all the cooking.
Even the day of our wedding, I made our dinner. I fixed what we called stuffed pork chops, but it was really stuffing on top of the pork chops, covered with foil and baked till done. I asked Marlin today if he remembers what he did the day of our wedding. Yes, he remembers, he said. He went to pick up the suit that his dad had bought for him that was being altered to fit him.
Yes, I learned how to run a kitchen that summer but what I didn't learn was how to shop for groceries. Oh, I went along with my mom, almost all the time, when she went shopping. But I wasn't paying attention to what Mom was doing or how she made decisions. I was having a lark, sneaking something silly into the gorcery cart where I was sure she'd see it and make me put it back. I really didn't want to have to eat eel! When we went for groceries after we were married, I overspent in a big way! But only that once. After that, I carried paper and pencil and added up my purchases to make sure I was staying within the budget. Now I have a pretty good idea of how much I'm spending without doing a running total. And I still cook!
Rice Isn't Fluffy
I saw the picture of Marlin and me exiting the church and people throwing rice at us and I remembered! Rice thrown at you hurts! In the picture, I'm ducking my head and trying to lean so that the pelting rice would hit me in less vulnerable places than my face and ears. It hurt. And I got rice in my mouth! I wanted to spit it out but how does a bride spit delicately? UGH! I had no idea how much that rice hurt until it happened to me.
More Remembering
I remembered who my wedding attendants were but I was having trouble remembering my husband's groomsmen. At lunch today, I asked him. He remembered as I did. His brother was his best man, Tom Johnson, a home town kid who was also a classmate at college, and then we drew a blank. Who was the third person?
Finally he went upstairs to his photo stash and got out our wedding pictures. There was one with all our wedding party together. We both felt really sheepish as we saw the one we'd forgotten. My brother!!!! How could we both forget that? I noted also that my cousin, Katherine Ann, was the flower girl. I hadn't really forgotten that. I just didn't remember to mention her when I mentioned the names of my attendants.
The pictures help to bring back memories. It's good to have the pictures. However, the best picture of the congregation was taken from the back and all you see is the back of everyone. Forty-eight years later, I can identify very few of the people from the back of their heads.
More memories when I take my next break.
Today is OUR Day
Today is our Anniversary Day. We were married on this day, a Friday evening, 48 years ago. It seems so far away from today. We were both college students and candidates for missionary service. We did everything as inexpensively as possible and we had a beautiful wedding.
I borrowed a wedding gown from Laura Keller, one of the women in the church. It was a lovely gown though it was very simple. I carried a little white Bible with flowers adorning it. I carried the Bible because my mom wanted me to do that. That Bible was never a practical thing. The print was tiny, almost unreadable even for my young eyes. The only thing that Bible ever did was go with me down the aisle. It wasn't my own personal Bible. I never understood why she wanted e to carry that but it was easy enough for me to do it so I did.
My friends, Arlene Miller, Ellen Stamatin and Patty Berkoben were my attendants. Arlene was my roommate at Nyack College, Ellen was a dear friend from college, and Patty a dear friend from high school. I still hear from Arlene from time to time but within a couple years of our marriage, both Ellen and Patty dropped out of our lives and I have no idea of where they are today, though I would love to have contact with them.
I'll write more about this when I take a break later today. Right now, I have "miles to go" before I welcome guests who come to our open house tonight at 7.
Searching for learning
Having started working on this new way to do "Double Cross" puzzles in the Games Magazines, (using the Internet to look up clues) I've continued my online learning.
Tonight I was looking for the name of a Clark Gable hospital drama. I put those words into Google and came up with the answer. On one page I opened there was a picture of Clark Gable as though it was being seen under water and drops of water were falling on it. It was a neat graphic effect, I thought. I wish I could duplicate that effect for one of my pictures. I just watched the drops falling for a short while. Then I filled in the answer to the clue.
Just a Cup of Water
Sometimes when I'm thirsty, I want a cup of tea or maybe a cup of cocoa. Sometimes milk hits the spot. Now and then, not often, I want gingerale or Sprite. But after mowing the lawn, when I get back into the house, it's just water that I want. Mowing the lawn always makes me feel parched, from about the time that I'm half through with the chore. I probably should have my cup of water waiting for me for when I get back into the house. You'd think I'd learn to do that, since that's what I want so much. Now I'm sipping my cold water and cooling down from one more time of mowing the lawn this summer.
Arnold Palmer
I just heard an interview with Arnold Palmer who is doing a big Fund Raiser in Detroit and in the course of the conversation they talked about his wife and their love story. He said that he'd met his wife, I think he said, on Thursday and asked her to marry him on Saturday! They were married for 45 years, until she died. Most of us take a lot longer to know that we've found the right one. I loved hearing Arnie's story.
Psalms of Praise
Our Sunday school class is beginning a study of Psalms. We had our introduction lesson today. I think it's going to be a great study. Our next lesson will be Psalm 8, a Psalm of praise. We will be singing this Psalm from the Psalter during our lesson time. I am looking forward to doing this.
Is It Cheating?
Last week I picked up an old Games Magazine and found that I'd already done the crossword puzzles in it, but the Double Cross, where you work the puzzle clues and then put the letters of the answers into numbered spaces to spell out a quotation, I hadn't done. I had stopped trying to do those puzzles because I know so little of the answers to fill in the blanks. The neat thing about this kind of puzzle is that if you get about half of the clues correct, you can figure out the answers to the clues by doing cryptogram like judgments in filling in words and letters in the quote. But you have to have lots of letters in the quote before you can get very far with that.
I decided that before I throw the old magazine out, I should give the Double Cross a try. It had questions about R&B and Higher and Higher, where the G8 Summit was held, who wrote a book I'd never heard of or what movie was the first that someone directed. I know none of those things. But, since I was doing some recreational down time and the computer was right here, I googled. And I found answers! But it felt like cheating. Was it?
It was just my own little game so I guess it wasn't cheating. It helped me figure out answers that weren't easy to google, like--"saw red" is "seethed".
Then in one of his skits, Garrison Keilor mentioned a person who bought crossword puzzle software and could finish the New York Times Sunday puzzle in seven minutes. I know it was a joke, but it made me question again, Is that cheating? I loved being able to finish the Double Cross without looking at the answer page! It was just "research," wasn't it!
Grasping at the Mist
Ever since my parents moved to Carlisle and a friend there offered to take my email letters to them, I have written to my parents every day. Since Mom can't see to read, Dad would read the letters to her. After he died, someone else would bring my letters to her and read them.
During the last year, I had to face the fact that Mom can no longer enjoy or appreciate my communication to her. She's not really herself these days and often is unresponsive. I finally had to face reality and stop sending the letters.
Recently my brother visited her and had the best visit with her that he's had in months. She knew he was family and talked with him again. So yesterday I dreamed that I was talking with Mom on the telephone and it was something like old times. It was an odd experience where I was home talking on the phone but I could see Mom talking on the phone where she is. In my dream she told me that she missed getting my letters and wanted me to write them again. I felt so happy about that.
When I woke up and realized that it was just a dream and Mom still can't enjoy my daily communication, I knew that I'd held a foggy wisp of mist in my hands for a few minutes and now it had dissolved and gone.
If You Can't Be Early
Today I couldn't do my grocery shopping early as I did earlier this week. Instead, I worked through the day till evening. I went shopping at Save-A-Lot, which closes at 9. The store was almost empty. I love shopping like that. I've decided that a good maxim to follow is this: If you can't be early, it's better to go late. That probably isn't good advice for meetings and appointments but it certainly works well for grocery shopping. Just don't be so late that the store is closed!
Baking
I just finished mixing cake batter. I used to bake cake several times a week, when the boys were home. Now that it's just the two of us here, I seldom bake a cake. Now I'm getting ready to celebrate our anniversary on Tuesday and want to have cake for guests. I can bake the cake today and freeze it to keep it fresh.
I'd forgotten how much I really like to bake. As I beat the batter and it creamed and expanded, a feeling of happiness expanded inside me. It felt so good to be baking like this again.
Now to make the frosting. That should be fun, too!
School Supplies
I've been noticing that there are now lists of supplies that you need to buy for your child before school starts. Every grade has its own needs.
It's brought back memories of my elementary school days, and even high school, as I remember. We were supplied with a school tablet and a pencil every six weeks, whether we needed them or not. Some kids always used their tablet up faster than the rest and there were always people who lost their tablets or pencils and had to "borrow" from someone.
But I'm thinking about the tablet itself. Our tablets aways had a map of Pennsylvania on the front cover. The map showed all the PA counties and as far as I could tell, all the towns and cities were on it. It even had the little town of Mahaffey in Clearfield County, near the center of the state. Mahaffey was my last name. I wasn't aware of anyone else whose last name was the name of a town.
Since all the tablets were the same, it was important to have one's name on the tablet, in case it was left lying somewhere besides one's own desk. Every once in a while when I felt like teasing someone, I would ask, "If my name is on your tablet, can I have it?" They would tell me yes, knowing very well that they hadn't written my name there. Then I would show them the tiny town of Mahaffey and they would be very surprised. But I never took anyone's tablet. Just surprising them was enough for me.
No Picnic Today
It's a good thing we planned the church picnic for yesterday evening. Although it sprinkled on us, it didn't rain hard and for most of the time, it did not rain at all. The rain held off till almost 8 before it forced us to gather our stuff and head for home.
This afternoon it started to rain again, after raining on and off all day. It has rained non stop all evening, a steady melancholy patter.
I have restocked the critter log with "bird cake," and checked out the twine for the corn cob. The big squirrel came this afternoon and finished off all the corn so I replaced it with a fresh cob, but I haven't replaced the twine. I'll have to use new twine for the next ear of corn.
The chipmunk was back to working on the bird block by the kitchen window. He was splayed out on the wire cage which holds the block and he was seriously intent on gathering food. We wondered if this activity meant that the rain would not let up. Apparently that's what it did mean.
Rain, rain, go away! At least for several days!
The Corn Cob
Today the little red squirrel (who looks brown with a snow white belly) spent some time working on the corn cob. It's hanging by twine, suspended from a snag on the log. Once I had seen the squirrel looking like a suspension bridge between the corn and the log. Today, the squirrel had wrapped the twine around the log a couple turns, bringing the corn right up against the log where he could more easily get the kernels off the cob. The squirrel tried repeatedly to take the corn to the top of the hanging apparatus but the twine wouldn't reach that far.
How long will it be before the squirrel chews through the twine and carries the corn cob away altogether?
Getting the Day Started
Some days it's harder to get started than others. Part of it for me today is because I got into watching Olympic swimming and gymnastics last night. I wrote a couple of articles for the church newsletter but then I'd scoot back into the living room and watch the Olympics for a while.
I had two imperatives, so to speak. The Olympics will soon be over and no chance to watch them again for four years. And, I had three news items which I'd picked up earlier in the evening and I should write them before the facts got blurred and fuzzy. I tried to do them both.
I hope I didn't blur any facts in the news articles but I think I've blurred the Olympic events in my memory.
I can't help thinking this morning, What fantastic moves would we be watching if we could see Squirrel Olympics? They all seem to be great athletes. If they competed against each other, wouldn't there be some great action to watch?
(I am always completely amazed at the gymnastic moves and wonder how they learned to do things like the uneven parallels without killing themselves.)
Football Tires
We do "football tires" in our Aquarobics exercises. You know, straddle jog as if you're running tires in the football practices.
Today I watched the gray squirrel run up the tree trunk and I swear, he was doing football tires! He couldn't have had his legs wider apart. Like I said before, what an athlete!
Big Squirrel, Little Squirrel
This morning there were two squirrels at the critter log. They weren't related. They were two different brands of squirrel. One was a big, gray squirrel, and the second was a little brown, probably red, squirrel. They were both interested in the log. The little squirrel was more interested than the big squirrel. The gray squirrel sat on the arm from which the log is suspended. He sat there right where the chain is hooked to the arm to hang the log. The little squirrel ran down the chain to the log, sneaking behind the big squirrel to do so. He checked out the log briefly and decided he'd move on. He climbed the log to the chain and then instead of swarming up the chain to the board which is nailed to the tree, he jumped straight up, about two feet to reach the board, just behind the big, gray squirrel. Then he sped away in a flash. (What an impressive athlete!)
It reminded me of Desy and my old dog, Rhombus. Rhombus was 9 when I brought Desy home and Rhombus hated having Desy share the house with her. She growled at her and was mean to her. Desy was afraid to walk past her. If she needed to get past Rhombus, Desy did it fast, the way the little squirrel did this morning.
That's why I am delighted to have Desy and Rusty greet me at the door, side by side as they do. Rusty is even bigger than Rhombus was but they are great friends and Rusty is never mean with her. From the day they met, two and a half years ago when we brought Rusty home, they have been great friends. When Rhombus was alive, Desy had to hang back and let Rhombus greet me first. She had to be alert and wary, like the little squirrel was about the big gray squirrel. It definitely makes me smile to see them so close together.
Shopping Early
It's hard for me to leave the house early and go shopping but when I make myself do it, I come home feeling so good about having done the chore, knowing it's done for the day. This morning I went for groceries, leaving the house even before I had breakfast.
I went to Walmart, a store that is open all the time, but it seemed like the store and the employees were just waking up. Can you imagine a store waking up, stretching it's arms up, rubbing sleep out of its eyes? That's what it was like to me this morning. The employees were methodically going about their work. Progress reports and a pep talk were being given over the PA system. "We can do it by the end of the year, if we all work together." I wasn't concentrating on what they could do but it was something about how important the check out people are.
I came home feeling really good about having this chore out of the way. I opened the door to the kitchen entry and was greeted by both dogs, the brown and the black, close beside each other, good friends welcoming me home again. Their greeting made me smile! I'm glad they're such good friends, and I'm glad they run to meet me at the door. I'm glad the shopping is over for today.
Buy Beach Glass
Both the women who talked to me about hunting for beach glass at Beach 1 at Erie's Presque Isle told me about Relish, a store which sells jewelry made from beach glass.
www.relishthis.biz/ here's a link to their store. You might find it to be interesting. I should go there and check it out in person. It's not that far away from me.
Wrong
I was wrong about the rain settling in to stay the day. It stopped raining by 11 and then this afternoon, the sun came out. It's still not hot. It's a really nice day. I don't mind being wrong about the forecast at all!
Dark Morning
I'm asking myself this morning, "Do I think this every year at this time?" It's so dark this morning, and it's cold and it's raining. It's raining like it has no place else to go and it's moved here to stay. It's raining like it won't go away until we feed it. This day seems like an October day and I am thinking that it will soon be Christmas. But it's not October. It's August!
I'm wondering, do I think every year when we reach the midway point of August that the weather isn't right for August? Do I have unrealistic expectations of August?
When I think of the Augusts of my childhood, I think of waist high grass in the fields, crispy and dry, mornings without sweaters, running barefoot through the lawn, ---heat and dust and Kool Aid and clover chains. Do I have it wrong? Was that July?
Is this typical weather and do I always lament on August 18 that summer is over?
Olympics
Are you watching the Olympics? I haven't spent much time watching them so far. I've seen a little of the swimming. I could get really interested in watching that. As the swimmers race toward their goal, I get very caught up in the closeness of the race. Can you imagine being second by a fraction of a second? That's incredible!
Beach Glass
Today after my husband's check-up in Erie, he felt well enough to spend a little time on Presque Isle. He really is coming along steadily, feeling a little better each week.
As we entered the park, I asked if we could go to Beach 1. That is where to look for bits of beach glass, a woman had told me about a month ago in the Cancer Center waiting room. She'd been wearing a pendant made of blue beach glass and she called it her "Vicks Necklace." She bought the necklace. It wasn't from her own collection of glass.
We parked and walked into the beach area. A woman was stopped over at the edge of the water, raking through the sand with a stick. I knew she must be hunting for beach glass. She didn't look up as I approached her but I talked to her any how. She kept on hunting through the stones, but she responded to me then. She was hunting for pretty pebbles and beach glass. She showed me what she'd collected in the cottage cheese container that she'd brought with her. There wasn't that much in the bottom of the container but it was interesting, --pretty little pebbles and tiny bits of glass.
I told her about the woman with the "Vicks Necklace" and what she'd told me. Today's woman told me that she would like to make jewelry out of her beach glass but she can't find out how to drill a hole into the glass to make a pendant. I asked about a Dremel tool. She said she has one but it wasn't powerful enough to drill a hole into the glass. The people she knows won't share their secret with her. I suggested that she might find a hobby group on a message board online who would help her find the answer. She said that's the next place she'll try. She said that for now, she puts her finds into a crystal bowl but maybe one day, she will be able to make jewelry from some of them.
I took a stick and raked through some stones at the water's edge but I didn't find anything much. Of course, I was probably looking through the place where she'd already searched. I did enjoy my talk with her. Maybe some day I will have time to find some beach glass for myself.
Sharing
Usually I think of this place where I live, with an elementary school on one side of me and neighbors all around me, as "our" home, and that means my husband and me. But I've begun to realize that there are others who feel right at home here on "our" property.
Yesterday I looked out of the window of the front door to the porch to see if our afternoon paper had arrived. There was a chipmunk on our mail table. Although he was on alert and very wary, he still seemed to be very much at home there on the table under the wall mounted mail box. He must think of this as his home, too. I marveled to get such a good look at his perfect little features.
This morning I saw a humming bird making his rounds, sipping from the dancing lady fuchsia blooms, and the lobelia, and the impatiens. He, too, was right at home, here in a place that I thought of as mine. What beautiful little creatures they are.
The Predator
I am saddened to report that the cat, the predator who came so close to catching my birds the other day, was killed on the street today, hit by a car. It was a nice cat, really. I never wanted it to be dead. I just wanted it to not prey on the birds here at my feeders. So, when Carolyn gave me the news, I felt really bad about it. I wish that our neighbor who adopted the cat and paid vet bills to have it properly treated had also kept it indoors or leashed it outdoors. She was a beautiful cat, and she was friendly, too, --with people who didn't run at her and chase her away because she was annoying the birds.
Half a Plant is Better. . .
Half a plant is better than none. I just realized that today. I've been trying to winter over my Mother's Day gift fuchsias. Some years it has worked. Last year was hard on them. I had several plants that I tried to keep. The house seemed to be unusually dry and the plants didn't do well at all. Two of them were a lost cause. Only half of the third one was somewhat alive. I really didn't have much hope for it to live and thrive. But there were some tiny green leaves on those couple of dry stick-like branches on one side of the pot after winter was over, so I set it outdoors when it was warm enough this spring.
To my surprise, those couple of branches leafed out nicely and began to have blooms again. They are especially lovely blooms, a bright crimson red on top with fluffy, creamy white petals underneath. They remind me of a girl's lovely cotillion dress, --though I really don't anything about a cotillion. I just think the girls' gowns should be as lovely as these blooms are. This year's fuchsia is lovely and full with bloom that are dark red on top and deep purple underneath. They are nice, but these red and white ones are really striking.
When it started blooming, I hung it on the trellis archway, on the side away from the house. The branches with the blooms are showing there at the far side of the trellis and from this angle, it would appear to be a whole plant, not a half. It gives me much pleasure to look at the lovely dancing ladies when the birds, the chipmunk or the squirrels aren't out there for me to watch. There's a about a dozen gorgeous blooms on those few branches. Half a plant is better than none.
Hard Work
Yesterday in our Sunday school discussion, (we get into a lot of topics!), the comment was made that going to school was the easiest work we had ever done. At first we laughed and agreed with this, but then we got to thinking more seriously. No, it wasn't easy.
There were a lot of pressures on me during high school. There was nothing easy about it at all. Along with the ususal pressue to do well in my school work, I had the social pressure of not fitting in well. We lived far out in the country and I was bused to school for my last three years. I was a new kid with an established set that had grown up together. And I was shy.
Physics was so overwhelming that I had to drop the class. Public speaking was especially challenging because I was the only girl in a class of boys. And shy, don't forget shy! Chemistry was do-able but just do-able. It was a constant worry to me. I probably prayed more about understanding chemistry than I had to over all my other classes. Gym class was a nightmare. I just had to endure it, though. There was no way for me to study for it, just get through it.
Ah, I'm still glad that high school is over for me, although I think that if I were to be a high school student today, with all these experiences to draw from, I'd do it better, but I wouldn't want it to be a first time experience for me again.
On Writing Songs
This morning Chuck Swindoll was talking about the Psalms and music. He talked about the contemporary Christian music and said that there's some of it that he likes but some of it that he doesn't care for. He said he'd like to encourage people who have the gift for writing music to work toward giving us songs with some depth, not that Seven-Eleven music. That's, seven words in a phrase and repeated eleven times!
It's Zucchini Time
For a while there, I tried every year to grow zucchini but I never had any great success with it. Some years I would get a couple of them but I never got more than a few. This is a puzzle to me because most people who plant a zucchini get so many of them they have to give them away. For the last several years, I haven't planted zucchini at all. It seems pointless.
So, now is the time when the zucchini are being harvested. People who do have success growing them have shared their bounty with us. Both last Sunday and this Sunday I came home with two. I could have had more but enough is enough. We had zucchini for dinner today. I fried it with bacon snips and onion, --lots of onion. I could have used a bigger zucchini. But that's OK. I have another one for another day, and there may be more coming our way next Sunday. Thanks to Edith and Bud.
On the Making of To Do Lists
The problem I have with making To Do lists is that I do so much more than I think ahead to write on my lists. Then when I don't complete my list, it seems to me that I haven't done anything, but the real deal is that I've done other things that I didn't list.
Yesterday I hadn't written "bathe dog" on my list but that was an important task which I did yesterday morning. It gave me a lot of satisfaction to get her bath out of the way. It does help her a little bit with her allergy problem so it's really a good thing to do every week.
She's getting cagy about her bath, though. She hates it, of course. Unlike Daisy, Dagwood's dog who runs from the room when Dag talks of bathing her, even if he's speaking Pig Latin, Desy does obey but reluctantly.
One time she crowded beside me where the water wouldn't get on her and I had to push and shove to get her into the water and wet her down.
But, any how, Desy's bath was only on my mental list and I didn't get to put a check mark on a paper. I did many things which weren't on a paper list yesterday. It was a good day.
Speaking of County Fairs
Our guest musician at church last Sunday was Kevin Nelson. He's 14 years old. He plays the piano and the organ and sings, too. He's been involved in many musical events in our community.
He came to our Sunday school class and in conversation before class began, he told us that he was entering 71 exhibits in Warren County Fair on Monday. He entered a lot of photographs, but also entered other categories such as fruits and vegetables and flowers, --all of which takes a lot of time to pick and arrange and transport, not to mention the amount of time that went into getting them registered correctly.
Friday's local newspaper reported that Kevin had won 57 ribbons with his entries and collected $232.45 in prize money. He won a $50 award for having the most entries in the Junior division. There is also an award for the Senior winner. How come I never knew there was a prize for having the most entries? I might have worked harder to get more entries in. I'm competetive about some things.
Any way, I'm proud of Kevin and his accomplishments at the fair this summer. I know how satisfying it is to win ribbons at the fair. Congratulations to Kevin for a job well done.
Not Finished
I feel so good about days that I accomplish what I set out to do but I feel really discouraged when I don't do my appointed tasks. Yesterday I didn't do the work I thought I should. I accomplished only one thing on my "to do" list and my list wasn't very long to start with.
I can't explain why I didn't do them. I only had a good reason for not doing one task, --spend 15-30 minutes pulling weeds. That's not a hard task, but it rained and rained yesterday and it was too much of a downpour to go ahead and work in the yard.
The rest, I can't explain. Diligence would have made me feel so much better about myself this morning. I shall try to do yesterday's "to do" stuff today, at least some of it. But I have other things that I MUST do today which will determine how much of yesterday's list will get finished. Some things can wait, and they will wait. But I like to feel good about my diligence.
Squirrel visitor
This squirrel has been visiting my archway trellis and eating from the bird bell that hangs there. He's not very afraid of me. He scolds and scolds when the cat is near, but he doesn't scold at me. I like to see the squirrels visit my hanging log and eat the bird cake from it. I was very pleased with the way this picture turned out.
Frogs
A couple of years ago, Erie had a thing about fish. A couple of kinds of fish were designed and created in plastic and artists raised money and painted them to make interesting attractions. Our Artists' Guild helped to buy one and some of our artists painted it. It was fun to see them around Erie and some of them are still there today. Our fish is in our YMCA. One of the fish is in front of the Erie Regional Cancer Center.
This year the same thing is happening with frogs. Frogs are being decorated in very interesting ways. Today's newspaper tells about the frog of the week. It was done by Elisa Guida and Ed Saloum and stands in front of Saint Vincent Health Center. It's name is Toadily Healthy. It was done with 6,000 3/4 inch mosaic tiles. This frog is also a fountain, spitting a stream of water into a garden. The mosaic tiles form interesting patterns over the body of the frog.
If you get to Erie, you'll enjoy looking for the frogs.
Weather Fallout
We're nowhere near Florida but the weather we have today must be affected by the violent storms that are threatening there. It's hard to fully grasp what Charlie must mean to the people of Florida. The best I can come up with is a memory of one day when the sky got dark and the wind whipped through our yard for a few minutes. It was scary but it was over in a short time. I think they are saying Charlie has winds of 125 mph! That's very frightening.
We awoke to gray skies here today and then the rains came. It rained a lot today but it has stopped raining now. The grayness continues and the temperature has dropped. It's in the 50's. That's not what we expected for a mid-August afternoon.
We do pray that people in the path of the storm will be safe. Our rain and cold is nothing compared to what is happening in Florida.
Friday the 13th
My first memory of Friday the 13th comes from a time when my brother and I were in elementary school. I don't know the year. I don't know the month, except that it was a winter month.
We lived a mile away from the main highway. The school bus picked us up half a mile away from our home at the bus stop at the bottom of the hill where our road made a T with the road from the highway. It was uphill from there in all directions. To get out the highway, you had to go up the hill, down hill again and then climb another longer, steeper hill, and back down again to the highway. On winter days when the roads were slippery, our bus couldn't get to our bus stop. As I remember it, we had been asked to meet the bus at the main highway on this day and we'd walked the mile to the bus stop at Schaffer's Gas Station by the highway.
It was Friday the 13th and the group of us were discussing whether something bad would happen because of the date. We got to Schaffer's before the bus was there so we were playing around in the snow while waiting. And then my brother decided to walk on the ice in the ditch. It wasn't thick enough to take his weight and he broke through. What none of us realized was that the water there was not puddle deep, it was very deep. So my brother broke though the ice and as I remember it, he fell into water up to his waist. Of course, he was a little boy then and his waist wasn't that far from the ground to begin with, but there he was, wet through and through with icy-cold water.
We trooped into Schaffer's store and kind Mrs. Schaffer got him warm and dry again, with towels and maybe some clothes from her son who was older than Ed. Then she called our mom to get proper clothes for him to go to school in. I don't remember how all that worked out but I do remember that we said to each other in awe, " Friday the 13th is a bad day! Something really bad did happen!"
I've gone through many Friday the 13ths since then and most of the time I don't even notice that it's that date. In my life, it's just another day, with good or bad, the same as every other day. But today on the radio they are talking about the superstitions concerning this day and it triggered this almost forgotten memory. I wonder if Ed remembers!
A Real Tomato
Today I piced my first real tomato from my garden. I've had a couple dozen of the grape tomatoes but this is the first full sized tomato.
We ate it already. We had it in a BLT. It was really quite good. It's too bad a person has to wait all summer to get a ripe tomato from one's own garden, but then again, it's worth the wait.
The Last of the Rainbow
That's violet, -the last color named in the spectrum of the rainbow. ROYGBIV --Violet's the last.
I spent my morning working with violet, --African violets. I had one planter that looked like it had a violet of a different kind in with it. I decided to get that different plant out of there and into its own pot. It turned out that there were 5 plants growing together, and one did, indeed, seem not to belong. I carefully separated them and got them into their own pots.
Then I decided that while I had newspapers and planting soil and plant pots out, not to mention dirt under my fingernails, I might as well take care of several other pots in which the violets were too crowded. I ended up with 16 separated plants and I used up the remaining Miracle-Gro potting soil I had.
I have a whole tray full of freshly potted violets to find homes for. I think I'll give them a week or so to settle into their new pots well and then I'll get serious about sharing them with others.
The Scream
Did you hear me scream? Of course not! But I just screamed so hard it hurt my throat.
I'm sitting here watching the birds at the hanging feeder while I write a letter to a friend. I love being able to type while I look at other things. I'm so thankful that I learned touch typing during that one year of typing class in high school so many years ago.
Any way, I'm typing my letter and looking out the window and there's the neighbor's slinking cat again. It came suddenly up out of the flowers and made a flying leap toward the bird feeder and several birds were eating there. That's when I screamed.
I don't think the cat heard me so I know you didn't but my throat still hurts.
The bird feeder was on a shepherds crook kind of pole. The cat barreled into the feeder, the birds flew off, the feeder was knocked off the hook and onto the ground and the cat got nothing but a spill. I ran out to the yard quickly to chase the cat and take care of the situation. The cat was gone as soon as I opened the door.
I picked up the bird feeder and decided to put it up higher. Now I have it hanging from the overhang of the trellis archway and I put a planter of petunias on the hanger pole. The birds are back at the feeder again and don't seem to mind that it's in a different position. I think it's not the same birds who were on the feeder when the cat attack happened. They are probably getting their adrenalin rush back to normal. Me, too!
Games
Today my October Games Magazine came in the mail. I always check first to see if there is a Rebus Contest but there isn't one in this issue. That's my favorite.
There is a Hidden Contest. There was a time when I was able to find the Hidden Contest but for several years now, it's been too subtle for me to locate it. I have almost stopped trying to find the Hidden Contest because it's so hidden.
But I still enjoy the crossword puzzles. Let the Games begin.
The Eyes
For the last several years I've been having trouble with my eyes. They get very tired and I sometimes see double. I am now wearing lenses with correction in them to help me focus my eyes for single vision. It's been a concern to me that my problem has been getting worse. The doctor has told me that there is a limit as to how much help they can give for this problem . Of course, there's always the eye patch which would help if the lenses wouldn't.
Since we set up the computer in the corner of the dining room where I can look up from my work and look out at the birds, the chipmunks, the squirrels and the yard, my eyes don't bother me nearly as much as they did. I had asked the doctor if my time spent at the computer was perhaps harming my vision. He didn't think it was. I tried to rest my eyes when working at the computer before but there was nothing restful to them about looking at the wall on either side of me. Perhaps it's my imagination that watching the scene outside my window while I type has been beneficial to my eyes but I think I'm really onto something. I think my eyes are really doing much better with the restful change of scenery.
County Fairs
I never went to a county fair until we lived in this area. I don't know which came first for me, Warren, or Erie County Fair. I know that back in the early 70's we went to a car show at Erie County Fair each year for a while. It wasn't a car show like we went to at Mead Park where people brought their classic cars and we walked around them and looked them over. At the fair, it was Joey Fleetwood and his team of dare-devil drivers putting on a show which we watched from the grandstand. He would zoom around, jump his car over other parked cars and make 180 degree turns while driving his car at breakneck speeds. Part of his show was the Demolition Derby. That was always astonishing to me, the drivers would crash into each other's cars hoping to knock them out of the competition until only one car would still run. This car show was my husband's interest. My interest was the art exhibits hanging quietly in one of the buildings.
Warren County Fair is going on this week and there's lots of local interest in what's going on there this week. But for the third year now, I have no entries in the fair. My husband got me started entering my art work at Erie, Warren, and Crawford County Fairs, and our local Spartansburg Fair. Preparing my art exhibits was a big part of my summer activity from the 70's until three years ago. As I hear talk about the state and county fairs this week, it makes me remember the days when I took pictures to the fairs.
It took a lot of effort to get my pictures to the fair and then go and get them. It's so much easier to not make that effort now but I sort of miss the days when I was drawing, painting and framing to get my work done in time to exhibit at the fair. But I don't miss the pressure of getting the pictures home again late Saturday night. And that box of pictures was getting heavy to carry.
MacMillan
I used to like to watch the MacMillan and Wife program. My favorite in the show was Susan St. James. She was always so full of zest, so eager for life. I really liked her.
So, tonight I watched a rerun of one of those programs. It was like watching something I hadn't seen before. I had forgotten so much of it, but there was one incident which I did remember. Sgt. Enright was keeping an eye on the wealthy widow to make sure where she went. She came out to his car, invited him into the house, assured him that she wasn't going anywhere all evening so he might as well watch her from in the house and be comfortable. She gave him food, made him comfortable, told him he could watch TV. She would just take a shower and he could relax. Then while he was lulled into comfort, she left the house. When the phone rang and she didn't answer it, Sgt. Enright looked for her and discovered that she was gone. He'd been duped. He looked so chagrined.
I didn't remember the plot, didn't remember the solution, not even the car-plane chase at the end, but I remembered the scene where Sgt. Enright was completly fooled by her scheme. Odd that I would remember just that one scene. I enjoyed the movie all over again. It was all new to me except for the way she fooled Enright.
Refining the Process
I hadn't seen that the jays and squirrels visited the bird log a lot so I was surprised to find that all the little holes in the log were empty. I needed to mix up more bird cake.
I think I'm really getting the hang of how to do this but unfortunately, I didn't measure anything, so I can't give a recipe. I'm doing the bird cake the way Granny Prinkey made pie crust. She just knew how to do it after all those years of having made pies. She snorted in disdain that her daughter-in-law didn't know how to make pie crust without looking up the recipe. I listened to her talking about it, knowing that I had to look up the recipe for pie crust. I'm not sure whether I admitted this at the time or not but I determined that day to memorize the recipes I used a lot. Now I know that Granny Prinkey must have forgotten her early days of pie baking. Surely there was time when she had to check the recipe before getting started.
Any how, I got just the right amount of peanut butter, crunchy, and honey into a cereal bowl. I zapped it for 30 seconds and then stirred it together well. Then I stirred in cracked corn, not too much as I did the first time, and some sunflower seeds in their seed coats and some already shelled. The mixture was warm but held together well and wasn't too sticky. I scooped out 17 little balls of the stuff and put them on waxed paper which I put into the freezer for about 15 minutes. I put the rest of the mixture into the refrigerator to use when this first batch is eaten.
Then I took the little balls of birdcake to the log and pressed them into the holes and this time I counted the holes. There are 15 of them. So I filled two of the holes a little fuller. The little balls were now set enough to handle very easily and they popped into the holes beautifully. Now I have to go away to lunch or I'd probably spend more time sitting here at the computer watching for the jays and squirrels to discover that their treats are in place once more and are waiting for them to come again.
Bird Log in Use
The blue jays and squirrels have discovered the bird log I had fixed up for them. I enjoy seeing them there. I have also bought dried corn on the cob to hang beside the log. It was satisfying to see the squirrel shelling corn off that cob.
When we went to The Tractor Store to buy the squirrel corn, we saw quite a few interesting things that could be bought for the enjoyment of watching squirrels. One was a contraption that looked like a small ferris wheel, with four places to put a corn cob. The squirrel is supposed to have great fun on this wheel, trying to eat while it spins around. We wondered it the squirrel agreed with that. Another thing was a squirrel bungee cord. The package said that the squirrel would have great fun getting the corn on the bungee cord and we would like watching its antics. There were also special wood feeders for squirrels and wire contraptions to hold corn cobs.
One of the big reasons to feed squirrels, besides the fun we have watching them, is that it keeps them away from the bird feeders. So far that's been true. They do seem to like the food I've put out for them.
Artists' Guild
Tonight was the monthly Artists' Guild meeting. Kate, a graphics art major in college, showed us samples of her work and passed around magazines with a lot of interesting graphics. I really like this kind of art. Today most of it is done on the computer. The artists who are college grads from a number of years ago told us how they had to use an Exacto knife and cut out letters to literally paste on their copy and then send it away for the final print of it. The computer has changed all that. I love working with my computer. It would be fun to do graphic art with the computer.
Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel
I don't really know what it's like to scrape the bottom of the barrel, but I do know about scraping the pan. So does Rusty. While I was away this morning, Rusty spent the time upstairs in his favorite snoozing spot. He didn't come to greet me when I got home.
As I prepared to make my lunch, I decided to put the remainder of the blueberry coffee cake into the freezer since the boys are gone and I didn't want it to go stale. Then I scraped all the crumbs from all the edges of the pan. Before I was finsished, there was Rusty, looking for his hand out. Scraping the pan, or the dish, means wonderful people food to both Rusty and Desy. Desy always hangs out near me and doesn't have to come running when I scrape a pan. She's already there.
Routine Changed
My routine slipped this morning. It's been a few weeks since I got to Aquarobics so this morning instead of doing my routine and getting ready early, I was puttering around and suddenly realized that time had sped by and I was on the verge of late. I had to really hurry. I got my allergy shots, and had a nice conversation with the nurse. And I had a good session at Aquarobics, though I was about five minutes late. No problem. They hadn't started their stretches yet. I didn't miss anything. But next time, I hope to engage the routine and do it right!
A Quote
Brother Cadfael in The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters, says, "People are endlessly mysterious and I am endlessly curious. As long as man is curious about his fellowman, that appetite alone will keep him alive."
Good-bye to Our Company
This afternoon, after we'd had the noon meal, I had to say good-bye to my grandsons who had been here this past week. I've been so blessed this summer with one set of company after another visiting and helping with things here. Now the house is empty. I hope for another round of company later in August and then summer will be over. Vacations are over in time for school to begin again and when school begins, summer is over. We made a lot of happy memories this summer.
A Church Hymnal
(Before I get into my story, I must apologize for replying three times to Leslie's comment. The computer kept saying it couldn't post to the page, try again. I finally gave up and later came back to the blog only to find that it had actually posted when it was saying it couldn't. Sigh)
There are a lot of spider stories in my life. I am sure that I have no more spider events in my life than other people do but since they are a horror to me, I remember many of mine, and they never stop happening.
One day when I was playing the piano for the opening exercises of the Sunday school at Excelsior Church, a spider crawled out of the spine of the hymnal that I was using. I couldn't continue to play the piano with a spider on the hymnal in front of me. I had to stop playing. The SS Superintendent rescued me at that point and we went back to singing again.
The SS Superintendent at that time was a gentle man and easy going. He was not a singer but was put into this position where he led the singing for the opening session of the SS. One day he announced that we would sing, "Oh For a Thousand Tongues to Sing," and he added the comment, "If I had a thousand tongues to sing, I'd be off-key in every one of them." You know how many a truth is said in gest? Well, this was one of them.
This morning I'm realizing that the spider in the spine of the hymnal could have been even more dramatic if I'd been holding the hymnal in my hands when it crawled out of its lovely nesting place. I'm glad it was three feet away from me instead of in my hands.
Jackie Gleason
Tonight we watched a rerun of The Jackie Gleason Show on the Good Life Channel. He was such a riot! It was fun to watch it with others instead of by myself.
Tonight it was about jumping to conclusions, when Ralph jumped to the conclusion that Alice was falling in love with Ed Norton. His facial expressions really make for the comedy. We had a lot of laughs from this episode.
Companion Piece
This is the companion piece to the mirror in the Regional Cancer Center in Erie. The words across the top that make up the sentence, "How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it," are written with scrabble letters.
This piece is hanging in the cafe room, where the tables are for people to relax with their food purchases. It seems so appropriate to have a wall ornament such as this in a place where everyone really needs kindness in their day. It's a gentle reminder to be thankful for all the loving kindnesses which touch even the hardest day. I saw a lot of kindness being shown through the volunteers and staff at the Cancer Center.
Refining the Method
Last night we put the last of the birdcake mixture that I'd made a couple of days ago into the holes in the critter log. My birdcake mixture is peanut butter, honey,cracked corn, raisins and sunflower seeds. I put the extra into the refrigerator till I would need it again.
Last night it was so easy to work with the birdcake after it had been refrigerated. I could scoop it into little balls and get it ready in the kitchen. Then we just pressed each little ball into one of the holes in the critter log.
Now I know to make the birdcake mixture ahead of time and refrigerate it to make it easier to work with. Live and learn!
Out Walking
Tonight's walk was not as long as last night's walk. We went to the high school, the boys split off to explore the paths on the hillside, and I walked 7 laps. I won't try to translate that to distance. And then back home again.
While I was walking, the night began to settle down around me. I wished I'd brought the camera. The sky was filled with wispy clouds that looked like they'd been combed out flat and straight. They turned pale pink and the sky became a light blue, like the color a prom gown might be, just before the sun slipped down behind the horizon and every thing in the sky became gray. The boys noticed, too, how beautiful it looked.
The End of an Era
When I retired in 1991, there was a very active group of retired school employees. I was eager to join them and I enjoyed attending their social events. It didn't matter to me that they were all 20 years or more older than I. (I retired early.) I enjoyed the events and was happy to participate.
Soon I became their secretary and I enjoyed doing that and going to their Executive Committee Meetings. As the years went by, I saw the older generation become frail and unable to take responsibility in managing the group. For a number of years there weren't new retirees. Our group was growing smaller and smaller and there were few newcomers. Three years ago, I agreed to be president, just to keep it going. I'll do it for one year, I thought. That's a laugh, because no one else who now comes is able to be president. At this point we have no officers because we couldn't field enough people to do a proper election.
In the last three years we've had a lot of retirees. They were willing to come to the meeting in which we honored them and paid for their meal, but they didn't join the group and it was the only meeting they attended, though they had a good time with us and talked like they would be back.
Today was our annual picnic. We hold it in the social rooms of a local church. The woman who was to open the door for us and make coffee didn't come, nor did she tell us that she wasn't coming. She had company. The other woman who could have done that was out of town visiting family. There were 9 of us who came. We stood around for a while, unable to get into the building. We made plans to go to the home of one of the group. As we were leaving, the pastor of the church arrived and let us in. She just happened to come by to show a fellow pastor what her church building was like.
Since I had a hunch that it wouldn't be well attended, I made several kinds of food to share and we had a nice selection of food for our meal. We all had a really nice time together. But I realize that we have reached the end of an era. Life is different now than it was even 10 years ago. People aren't joiners now and don't want to be committed to a group such as this.
We decided to meet for a meal monthly, those who can come, who want to come, will have dinner together at a restaurant. We'll have fun together and keep in touch that way. No more officers. We will just have a meal and enjoy each other's company. We must change as the times have changed.
Learning Squirrel Speak
Yesterday when Nicholas and I went from the driveway to the side yard to start the fire to roast hot dogs, a squirrel sat on the top of the critter lot and scolded and scolded. It was doing that before we left the driveway so I thought it wasn't scolding us but I didn't know why it was so upset. We stood there on the sidewalk and looked at the squirrel who was very agitated about something. A woman walking down the street stopped and looked at the squirrel with us and we talked about what the squirrel was trying to say.
Then Nicholas saw it. The cat! It was over by the bird feeder again. Nicholas chased the cat and the squirrel was happy again. Next time I hear such a racket, I'll look for the cat.
Walking
It's so much easier to go out walking when you have someone eager to walk with you. We went walking again this evening. The boys walked with me to the high school and they left me and went in search of the Cross Country Track at that point, while I walked the oval track around the football field.
I had my Tune Belt on and listened to the beginning of an Ellery Queen mystery.The descriptions in the story were sort of funny, I thought, but when the story was written, they were probably considered to be crisp and imaginative. I couldn't make notes, of course, so the most of them didn't stay in my mind but one that did was something like, "No one would consider Karen in that role because she was such a scary bird." At first that was a puzzle to me, but then I realized it was really meaning "frightened" or scared instead of scary.
I was finishing up the 12th lap (two miles) when the boys came back from the hill. They hadn't found the proper track but they'd explored some of the paths in the woods and they'd had fun.
With two miles at the track and a mile there and back home again, it's the most I've walked since I've been going to the track to walk. I made it home with no problems but my feet are thankful to be home. Once again, the exercise felt good.
Subduing the Earth
We are having a gloriously beautiful morning. It's wonderfully cool to work outdoors. It seemed hot after we really got into the work, but the termperature is really on the cool side today, and just right to work outdoors.
Nicholas and I mowed the yards. Well, OK, Nicholas mowed and I did trimming and weeding. We both worked outdoors all morning. He mowed our neighbor's yard, too. It's a much bigger yard than ours so it takes a lot of work, but it looks so nice when it's mowed. It would be terribly tall grass there now if we didn't mow it.
Carolyn gave me a little pot of fountain grass yesterday evening. Today was a good day to plant it. I put it beside the neighbor's driveway in a sunny spot. It was the last thing I did before I came inside to get lunch. And that's what I will do next.