Reading About Rhombus
I'm reading in my journal about my first year with Rhombus, in 1985. I've always remembered that my first year with her was really rough and I often wished that someone would ask me if I would be interested in giving her away and I'd say, "Yes! You can have her." But I've forgotten how extremely hard that first year was.
Rhombus was my German shepherd-Samoyan mixed breed puppy that I brought home in early August of that year. She was 3 1/2 months old when I got her and she'd never been played with, never had a collar or a leash on, never went for a walk, had no name. The people I got her from didn't want to become attached to the puppies they were giving away so they didn't play with her at all. It was a challenge to teach her things and socialize her. It wasn't easy, that first year. She destroyed so many things and it took her so much longer to learn house rules than I thought it should take. In November I wrote, "What an idiot!" I'd forgotten that I thought she was a stupid dog. By the end of the first year, she'd learned so much and proved to me that she had a lot of intelligence. I'd forgotten how much patience it took to train her. I'm glad I stuck with it. She really did love me. She was a great companion. She lived to be 16. I still miss her and sometimes call Rusty her name.
Oh, yes, the day actually came when someone did ask me if I would give her away. She was a beautiful animal. My response was, "No, never! She's mine!"
Out Walking
I went out walking for 45 minutes this afternoon. I started out on the route that I used to take every morning when I walked Rhombus and Desy. The sun was shining but the air was cold. Wherever there was any shade, it was pretty cool there. In the sunlight, it got pretty hot.
I noticed at the McInnes parking lot across the road where it's not been paved, a stand of cattails has grown up at the edge of the lot. There's a good bit of standing water there. Everywhere else the ground was really dry. I wonder when the cattails started to grow there and why the people at McInnes didn't get them out of there. I also wondered what had happened to make it an ideal place for cattails. Well, maybe it's not ideal. There weren't very many of them and they were just reed growth without any actual cattails, so it's probably not ideal, but they're definitely growing. Maybe the people there just thought that cattails couldn't be invasive there because all around that wet spot the land is really dry. I guess that makes sense.
Across the street from the Episcopal Church, I saw a man with a fluffy white beard, --about five inches of growth. He was wearing a cowboy hat and didn't look to be Amish and yet reminded me of Amish. Then I saw that he was the pastor of the Episcopal Church. I haven't seen him in several months. I had no idea that he'd grown a fluffy, white beard. He just waved and didn't stop to talk.
Along Gould Street I saw beautiful growth of fungi a little over five feet up a tree trunk. I've been impressed with fungi for many years. There are some interesting shapes and patterns in fungi.
I stopped at Dollar Store and browsed through it for five minutes but didn't see anything that I really wanted. It made a little rest for me before I headed home, even though I was on my feet the whole time.
I went by way of the lesser traveled streets and it was an interesting way to go. When I got home and hung up my jacket, I checked my pulse and found that it was up to 22. That's how we do it at Aquarobics, count the beats in 10 seconds and try to get it up over 18. It's hard for me to do that in the water but it's easy to do when I'm out walking.
A Fine Morning
It is a fine morning. The rain is over and the sun is shining brightly. But no walk for me, after all. My friend is still not feeling well and has set up an appointment for medical help this morning.
I'll probably walk alone sometime later today. Meanwhile, I have work to do.
The Rains Came
We have had a good many beautiful days lately. I can't complain. I'm not complaining but just stating a fact. About 5 minutes ago, it started raining. I'm just wondering if it will rain a long time or if it will be finished by morning when I plan to walk with Jean again. I just would like to know.
Fire Safety Day
This must be Fire Safety Week because the firemen are taking their little house around to each of the elementary schools in our area this week. Today is their day to visit the children in the school across the road. Sometime after 8 the firement came with their little house in tow and parked in the school lot. They brought a couple of the trucks, too. Teachers bring each class out into the parking lot and let them go through the little house and talk about what to do if they are ever in a house that catches fire. It's a very good program for the children. We all need to know what to do if there's a fire.
Last week, the fire trucks came to a house in the block below us. I saw the man come out into the yard and talk to the firemen and then the trucks returned to their station, which is just a block away from us. Later I read in the newspaper that neighbors had seen smoke coming from the house and called the fire department. When the firemen arrived at the scene, they found out that the man was grilling steaks on his sun porch and everything was under control.
It's nice to know we have neighbors who watch out for us, but it's also a bit unnerving to know that they may not watch close enough to know when we are really in trouble. But this incident reminds us of the old saying, "Better safe than sorry." It's true.
Unusual Visitor
Carolyn, my back door neighbor, brought this toad over to our yard this morning and asked me take a picture of it. She had found him while she was clearing out overgrowth from one of her flower beds. She had a setting all picked out for the picture. I grabbed my camera and went out with her to take the picture. I had to lie down on the ground to get this picture, so, I got a little dirt on my clothes but I think the picture turned out very nicely. This little guy seemed stiff and unwilling to move around. They are cold-blooded, you know, and it's not a very warm day here. He almost looks like a garden statue sitting there by the cracked flower pot, but he's alive and real and has been returned to the safe place in the flower bed.
I Walk Alone
I had planned to walk with my walking buddy, Jean, this morning but when I called to make sure we were on for this morning, she told me she wasn't feeling well. We didn't walk then. I set to work to finish the newsletter, but I regretted losing the walk.
Later in the afternoon, I walked to the library and copied the Wallstreet Journal Crossword Puzzle there, for twenty cents. We had a gift subscription to the Journal, for a month and I discovered the Friday puzzle and got hooked on it. When our subscription ran out, I realized that I could get the puzzle through our library and that's what I've been doing.
It takes me about 10 minutes to walk to the library, so it really isn't far away. When I left the library, I met an artist friend in the parking lot and we talked for about 15 minutes, standing beside her car. Then we said good-bye to each other and she drove away. I walked home alone. It wasn't the hour walk that I had expected to have today, but it was the next best thing.
Rewarding
Today I finished the newsletter. I stayed up late last night and finished lots of it so that this morning I was able to complete it by 11 AM. Yeah for me! For my reward, I did a little oil painting this afternoon. It's not a new picture It's something that I saw that would improve a picture I did earlier. Satisfaction!
Newsletter Time Again
I should have been finished with that pesky newsletter on Saturday but this whole year has been a challenge to me in writing the newsletter. I don't have the same drive to do it on time as I did for many years, --since 1988. Yesterday as I worked on it, I started to feel more "into" it as I used to feel. Now I am finished except for one last thing and that's the personal letter on the back page, the one I call "Dear Ones." I have an idea to work on, so I think I'll have it written by noon, but right now, I'm taking a little break.
Soon it will be time to celebrate the completion of another newsletter.
A Good Day
It's been a good day. I've had time alone and time with people, --a good balance. I got my allergy shots and went to Aquarobics. The water was a good temperature and Lisa was our instructor today. She always gives us a good workout. She's constantly reminding us to tighten our abs and glutes, and to work harder and faster. We really feel good after her workouts.
I worked on the newsletter for a while and made some good progress. I made time to watch 7th Heaven this evening. I printed a digital photo on one of my journal pages. I had taken a picture of the men working on our house. They built a scaffold around the cupola and they have put the scolloped siding under the eaves of four of our eight gables. After the work is finished, it will be interesting to see the work pictures.
I printed on photo paper two of the pictures that I took on my walk with Jean last Tuesday. One is a picture of cows in the field. I especially like that one.
I've got Desy calmed down about her scratching herself and she's resting quietly without wearing the cone.
All in all, it's been a very good day.
Live and Learn
It was time to make the peanut butter mixture for the bird log again. It's not hard to mix up the ingredients. What's hard is to put the mixture in the holes in the log. I've been rolling the mixture into walnut sized balls and stuffing them into the holes, but it's extremely messy to work with it that way.
This evening I got the bright idea of using a small rubber scraper to scoop up a bit and "butter" it into the holes. What a good idea! It worked very well that way.
I have some woodpeckers coming to the log now. I think some of the neighbors enjoy watching the critter log as much as I do. I'm so happy that I figured out an easier method to apply the peanut butter.
The Cone of Silence
When Rusty had minor surgery shortly after we adopted him, he wasn't supposed to chew at his stitches and we bought this big plastic cone to put around his neck to make it so that he couldn't do it. It never worked for Rusty. He bumped into the wall and the cone came unsnapped and flew off.
Recently Desy has been scratching at herself and chewing at itchy places on her back. I've done all the medications I can think of. I even had her tested for allergies and tried giving her allergy shots, all to no avail. Finally I decided I should try that cone, which I call The Cone of Silence, after Maxwell Smart's gadget. She hates it and really looks "hang dog" when I put it on her but it works. She can't chew herself with that on. Sometimes it works if I just tell her to stop it or I'll put the cone on her. Today she was too itchy to stop it, so she's wearing the cone and also wearing her hang dog expression. Poor Desy.
Playing Catch-up
I've been writing my journal for this year and storing it in a computer file. I meant to print it out each month, but I went on overload this spring and stopped printing it out. I've been promising myself for some time that I would get the printing done soon.
This evening, I did it. I had to print from the beginning of April. It was 85 pages. It was a tedious job because I wanted it printed front and back. I had to print page 1, then reinsert the page to print page 2 on the back. Around page 69, the printer got tired. I hope that's all it is. I'm hoping that after a rest, it will be its old cheerful self again.
It would groan at each command to print the page and then do nothing. I would reissue the command and it would send me a message saying it had to back print first. I would say OK and it would print the page. That certainly added to the tedium and the amount of time consumed, but eventually I got it done.
I sweetened this task a bit by listening to an audio book while I worked on the project. I am telling myself now that I won't wait so long to print out the journal. It would be much easier to do a few pages at a time.
It Was a Good Thing
Our Soup and Sandwich dinner at church was well received. I think everyone had a great time.
It was the All-Church Birthday Party. It was also Whitney's birthday today which made it that we celebrated everyone's birthday in a vague way and more specifically, we had someone right there with a bonafide "today" birthday. There was plenty of food for everyone and I got to bring about a quart of my soup home with me.
Soup's On
The soup is completed and is ready to take to church in its oversized pan so it can slosh around and not spill. We'll eat together after the worship service. It's good to have fellowship and eating together brings out enjoyment of being with one another.
Simmering Soup
I knew I could do it. I got the soup started in the early evening and then went out to buy mixed vegetables and mixed dried beans to add to it and let it simmer all through the evening. I chopped onion and celery and carrot. Tomorrow morning I'll heat it up and add the mixed vegetables.
I often hate to leave the house in the evening but usually once I'm out, I find enjoyment after all. It was kind of fun to wander up and down the aisles of the market nearest us. Once I was there, I wasn't in such a hurry to get back home.
Today I loved:
- Doing research on African violets
- Working on the house plants, especially the violets
- Having family here for breakfast
- Seeing the progress on the work on the siding of the house
- Seeing the many birds and the grinny at the critter food by the kitchen window
- My hamburger tonight for supper, --on Brown Berry bread, and with onion (of course)
- Working with the digital camera and downloading the pictures
- Saying Happy Birthday to my grandson and hearing about his joy in receiving his gifts and his birthday cake
- Hugs
- Having the soup simmering in the kitchen all evening
And more, I'm sure. Lots and lots of little things were good today.
Good-night.
Putting Knowledge to Use
I read this morning about how to treat African Violets that have grown a long stem. Uproot the plant, cut off the plant, leaving a long stem that can be rooted, and pare the brown, shaggy surface of that stem, --like you would a carrot. Then repot it in fresh soil and keep the soil moist, watered from the bottom.
I just did that to three plants. It seems to be an extreme operation, but they weren't looking very well the way they were. I'll keep those three separate and keep an eye on their progress. I figure that if I've killed them, at least I tried to make them into better plants.
Soon I have to deal with that soup. I'm starting to get motivated.
I'm Procrastinating
I should be going for a few groceries so that I can make soup for tomorrow's get together after the church service. I keep thinking that I have plenty of time yet. I can wait till late afternoon. I'll feel more like doing it then.
By then, I'll have to go. But will I feel more like I want to? Hmmm! Maybe not. But then I won't have a choice, will I!
AV
Not audio visuals! African Violets.
Since I brought home the pretty purple violet with the light lavender fringe, (Kentucky), it's renewed my interest in the violets I already have. I've been reading about violets on the web. I wanted to find some tips for doing a better job of transplanting the violets. My beautiful, ruffled and double, pink violet has multiplied into three or four plants and I need to divide it. I want to keep each of the new ones safely.
I found a great chart that shows the terminology for the various kinds of leaves and flowers. I hadn't realized how many variations there are!
I also learned today that I should remove three leaves every month from the bottom row of leaves.
And I saw a picture of a beautiful yellow violet. Guess what I want next!
Horn of Plenty
A funny thing happened at the football game tonight. When the horn sounded to end the third quarter of the game, it stuck and the sound went on endlessly! Whoever runs the scoreboard was trying to get it to turn off. We could see lights flashing across the scoreboard but the horn kept sounding. Finally they pulled the plug on the scoreboard and the horn stopped. When they turned it on again, the horn sounded and they had to turn it off right away. They played the final quarter without the use of the score board.
The game got very exciting during the last five minutes. How much we missed the scoreboard at that time! None of us knew how much time had elapsed and if we'd have enough time left to enable our team to make a comeback. We didn't have enough time but we had to depend on the game announcer to keep us filled in on the number of minutes remaining.
When they got the horn turned off, we all applauded! That was a very interesting part of the game.
High School Football
We went to the high school football game tonight. It was a home game and the weather was perfect for watching a game. It was a little warm for the band people in their heavy uniforms, and probably the football players found it warm, too.
Our team lost again, but they had three touchdowns and if they'd have gotten one more, with the conversion points, they'd have tied.
I loved seeing the bands and hearing them at half time. They both were very good. Meadville's band played very lively selections. Our band played quieter music but I thought they did their drill very well.
We were very impressed with the group of boys who sat in front of us. It was a mix of high school kids and elementary kids and the big kids were playing and having fun with the little kids. They were like puppies tumbling and tussling with each other. At the end when the game got exciting, they stopped playing around and watched the game. Although our team didn't win, we thought it was a well played game and it certainly was exciting in the last quarter.
New Sneakers
I think it was Ray Bradbury that wrote The Sound of Summer Running. It's the story of a young boy who needs new sneakers. There is no money to buy the shoes. He offers to work for the owner of a shoe store so that he can pay for the new shoes. He gets the job because he sells the man on the idea that he needs the new shoes because he can run and jump so much faster and higher with his new shoes.
It's true. A new pair of sneakers gives us a spring in our step. They just feel good. I think my dad was in his 70s when he got his first pair of sneakers. I saw the spring in his step as he tried out his new shoes.
This morning I am wearing a new pair of sneakers. It does give me a great feeling to step out into my new day in my new sneakers. I'm entering autumn with a spring in my step.
Walking Down the Street
This morning while I was working at the front lawn, I dragged the garden hose out from the tangle by the trumpet vine and was getting ready to wind it up to take to the cellar when I looked up and there was Bob Loveland walking down the street, almost at my elbow. I was startled at first because I heard him coming but then I realized that I had the tangle of hose out into the sidewalk.
"Oh, no," I said, "Don't trip on this hose." "No," he answered, "I've walked down this street for many years and I won't trip."
Then he told me that he delivered papers to the people who lived in this house when he was a boy. "The McKenzies," he said. I've heard about the McKenzies before. We've lived in this house since 1974, but people like Bob think of it as the McKenzie place.
His strongest memory of Don McKenzie, he said, was that when he was about 12, Don invited him to go to a meeting with him and get a present. It was Christmas time and he said that he thinks that it was probably a Rotary meeting he went to. It's his fondest memory of Mr. McKenzie.
Then he asked me about our family. For many years our boys delivered his paper to him. Then we talked about the critter log and how it attracts wild animals and keeps the squirrels away from the bird feeder. He said he'd noticed it and wondered what its purpose was. He seemed pleased to discover its function. Then he walked down the street and I went back to work on the yard, pleased with the brief interlude of conversation.
Goodnight
Today I put the garden to bed for winter. It was all dead and weedy now any way. Still, it's sad to pull it all up and compost it. It's so much more fun to plant it.
I have tons of outdoor work to do now. I brought in a big hanging plant today and mowed the lawn. I pulled lots of weeds. Even the weeds are shutting down for winter.
I feel good about the work I did in the yard today. If I could get a couple of hours in each day, I would make a lot of progress. But I probably won't get any outdoor time tomorrow. Maybe Saturday I'll get to work again.
The Routine
As I was getting ready for Aquarobics yesterday morning, I started to think about the fact that routine takes a lot of decision making out of the day. If I'd had to decide whether to go to Aquarobics or not, it would have taken more energy and in the end I might have decided not to go. But since it's part of my Wednesday morning routine, I just did it without a mental debate. And as always, I felt great after the workout.
I tend to like routine. It keeps me purring along, and I think, contentedly.
My Treat
I had to get milk tonight after choir. I would get it at Walmart since it's close to the church. I knew all day that if they still had what I'd seen when I was there last week, I would get it for my own treat.
I went first to the place where I'd seen it among all the display of African violets at the front of the store. It's a medium red-purple violet with a ruffled lavendar fringe. I don't need another violet. I have violets to give away! But I have mostly dark blue violets, a few white ones and even fewer pink ones. After I got home and thought about it, I decided that I could make room for this one more violet and if it was there the next time I went, I'd buy it.
I saw three of these violets left tonight. I bought one. I think it's an extended-birthday present for myself.
Next time I go, I'll look for some spring bulbs to tuck into the yard somewhere. Flowers are such delightful treats!
Autumn
I'm sure I heard one of the radio announcers this morning say, "This is the first day of winter." And at first, I believed him. And then I thought, no, winter arrives long before the first day of winter is proclaimed. What's wrong here. Then I counted three months from June when summer arrived and finally the truth broke through. Autumn. This is the first day of autumn, and true to form, it actually did arrive before the calendar date. I've been seeing it in our area and reading about it in the blogs that others write. Whew! I'm glad it's not winter yet. But I've heard that some places have already been hit with snow. Not here though. It's been great weather here.
My Confusion
I thought I received a bottle of special hand lotion for my birthday. My first few times of using it, I wondered why it left my hands feeling sticky and it was hard to work it into my skin. Finally I read the lable on the fancy bottle. It was a special, scented hand soap! Now that I know what it is, it works just fine.
Coming Home
After my walk this morning, I decided I should come home a different way because there was road work being done at the Rt. 6-Center Stree intersection. As I headed out the driveway in the opposite direction that I'd come, Jean showed concern that I was going the wrong way. I stopped the car and told her what I was doing. She expressed concern that I might not know the other way.
"I do know the way, " I assured her. "My husband took me that way when we left here last Thursday and I know the other end of the road where my friend Emeline used to live." Then I set off on my way, came to Five Points, and took the wrong road. Of course, I didn't know I'd taken the wrong road, until I got to the point where nothing looked right, which for most people would have been immediately, but for me it miles down the road. I turned around then and took Donation Road which I'd passed about a half a mile earlier. It still wasn't the right road, but I still didn't know that. Soon I realized that I hadn't been on that road on Thursday either, but I knew that if I'd keep on going I would come out to a road which I would recognize. And that's what happened. I was several miles to the west of where I intended to be but on the same road that I intended to take. On Donation road I saw a flash of reddish fur and bushy tail leaving the side of the road and vanishing into the brush. I think it was a young fox. One doesn't see a fox along the road very often. I thought it was kind of nice that I'd taken the road and got to see him.
I have no idea why I don't recognize roads. I just get mixed up about roads easily. These are roads I should know, but I haven't traveled them much and apart from last Thursday, I hadn't been there for years.
The puzzle word I was trying to come up with last night was property. Not a hard word at all!
After the Walk
I'm home from the morning walk with Jean on Carter Hill. Leslie was right about talking and walking up hills! It was a push. We walked for an hour and it was up and down, a good mix to make you push for a bit and then coast down the other side. I know I got my heart rate up but I didn't take my pulse.
I misjudged the weather. It was much warmer today. I wouldn't have needed the sweatshirt. I got very warm.
It was a very nice walk along country roads. Less than 10 vehicles passed us as we walked. There was no traffic at all! There were two fields with cows in them. We'll walk again another day.
Puzzling
Last night before I went to bed I was working on a Games Magazine puzzle. The answers to this particular puzzle were all words that could be spelled using only the top row of letters on the typewriter. One question that had me stumped was "piece of real estate". I could only think of things like house, apartment, lot, field, --- all of which use letters from the other rows of type.
This morning when I got the newspaper, I saw that word that I needed right there in the news and recognized it immediately. I'll tell you the answer later, --in case you want to work on it yourself. I like to carry a puzzle around in my head and find the answer when I least expect to.
Going Walking
I'm going to Carter Hill tomorrow morning to walk with Jean. It's getting pretty cold over night now so I know it will be cool there in the morning. I will need my jacket for sure. I'm looking forward to this time we'll have together. Walking is more fun when you walk with a friend.
Change in Temperatures
Since Ivan went through here on Thursday and Friday, the temperatures have fallen drastically. It was in the 30s here over night and it's still very cool though the sun is shining. I got my sweatshirts out again. It feels so good to have one on right now.
Our Aquarobics instructor told us this morning that she turns her funrace off the first day of May and will not turn it on again until the last day of October. That's pushing it a little in our area. I don't think I could put on enough sweaters or blankets till keep me warm till the end of October. I'm sure we'll be using our furnace long before then.
Bears Everywhere
I was reading in my 1984 journal about my oldest grandson when he was a toddler. Somehow he became afraid of bears. I didn't write what had caused it and I don't remember at all how that came about but I was visiting them during one of his times of being so afraid of bears. Somehow he thought his mom's hair dryer was a bear dryer and he was afraid of it. I had read from the Bible that "He will bear you on His shoulders . . ." and he picked up the word bear and and was afraid of my Bible and then he became afraid of me. In a few months when I visited again, he was over his bear scare but there for a while, he heard about bears everywhere.
Empty Tin
I took my cookies to Sunday school this morning in a fairly good sized Chex Mix tin that I sent away for some years ago. After class, we had the kids department come trooping into our room to grab a cookie. When they were gone, so were the cookies. I was glad that they liked them. It's nice that we have these kids in our Sunday school.
Home
We were away most of today and it's so good to be home again this evening. It was the bi-annual meeting of the church association that my husband is with. We had to be in Meadville at 2. I took my Sunday afternoon nap in the car!
The meeting was over at 4:45 and we had dinner together in the church social rooms. It was a very good meal, Swiss steak, and choice of pie for dessert. I had pumpkin. My husband thought he took blueberry but he got raisin! I think he was disappointed because he really wanted berry.
After the meeting adjourned, we were invited with another couple to visit friends in Meadville. After we were there just a little while, the other two women, who had known each other much longer than I've known either of them, got into a heated political discussion. I do not argue, least of all politics. I figure that you aren't going to change anyone's mind by argument. I picked up a bird book and started to look through it and talked to the men about the Master Gardener program and about birds.
The other couple left before we did and we lingered just a little longer before we left. I got to see the Master Gardener back yard and I was pleased to see it. They said that they had trouble with weeds this year, too! My weeds have their weeds beat though!
High School Football
I almost forgot to write about the football game on Friday night. Our school lost again, but this time we got three touchdowns. But what I wanted to mention is that all over our area, the high school football teams played in pouring rain. The next morning the rain was gone. If they could have postponed the games till the next day, it would have been an easier game to play, even though the playing field might be a little more soggy than they'd like. Who goes to watch football in pouring rain? I guess it's parents and grandparents.
The last time I went to a football game in bad weather, it was our homecoming game, just about Halloween. My youngest was in the band and I went for the band. It was snowing. It was an early snow, how bad could it get? I was dressed warmly enough, as I remember it, but it was not fun to watch that game in the snow. The snow covered the lines on the football field and it was terribly hard to keep track of where they were, as far as yards were concerned.
The homecoming court was introduced at halftime and everyone looked so cold but determined to endure. And then the fireworks. That's what I remember the most. I was looking up into the sky to watch the fireworks and the snow was falling on my face, so much snow that it was difficult to see the fireworks.
And that's when I made up my mind that it was the last game I would go to in bad weather. The whole thing seemed so ridiculous. The band was dismissed at the end of halftime and my son and I both left. We went to the choir Halloween Party.
Now I don't even consider going to a football game in really bad weather.
Busy Critters
The critters have been very busy today. I think it was chipmunks that finished off a full ear of corn at the critter log today but the red squirrel may have been there, too.
I replenished the peanut better bird cake in the holes in the log and I've seen some birds busy there. One was a medium sized woodpecker-family bird.
Early this morning I saw a gold finch at the seeds in the cone flower heads. I had read that birds will eat those seeds so unlike others in our neighborhood who deadhead the flowers right away to keep the beds looking neat, I leave the coneflower heads for the birds. This was the first I've even seen a bird at the seeds but I hoped that they'd enjoyed them. Now I realize that it isn't easy to spot the birds on the cone flower heads. Their color blends in so well that they look like another flower head. This morning it was very windy and I saw this bird hanging onto the flower head, swaying back and forth like it was a ride in an amusement park. He was picking the seeds out while swaying like that. I was happy to see that.
Aromas
This morning I butchered an old candle. It was a square candle, about pint sized. The flame had burned deep into its interior and I couldn't reach into it to light it without burning my fingers. I got this bright idea of heating a knife and slicing through the top shell of the candle, making it short enough to light easily again. I could visualize the knife sliding through the thick wax as a hot knife would slice through butter. It didn't work like that. It took a lot of reheating and a lot of sawing, but eventually I got the top cut away and the rest of my plan worked as I'd envisioned.
The candle is a fragrent one. I can't identify the aroma but it's a fruity, pleasant smell. I took the top surplus and melted it in a potpourri pot. What a lovely smell it has.
And now I've mingled another wonderful smell with the candle aroma. I'm baking chocolate chip cookies. Delicious aromas!
Water in the Well
When I was a girl and lived at the middle of that hill, we never had enough water in the well. It was a beautiful place to live but we never had enough water. We had to skimp and save every drop that we could. In fact, it's only been in the last few years that water was piped into that area.
Can you imagine canning without the use of abundance of water? There's the washing and rinsing of the canning jars, the washing of the fruit or vegetables, and for making jelly, the washing up of the 8 quart jelly pan and all the utensils. Washing the kettle after each batch of jelly takes a lot of water. How did my mom ever manage with the limited amount of water we had? Yesterday while I was doing clean up, one of the things I was thankful for was the abundance of water. If you've ever lived where water is scarce, you'll appreciate that simple abundance ever afterward.
Mom Is Close to Me When . . .
I feel my mom close to me when I cook and when I am canning. Mom taught me so much about cooking and canning and we worked together on most canning projects, for a lot of years. I know that she had to do a lot on her own after I went off to college, but I have a cumulation of memories from all those years up till then. I follow Mom's methods and her advice as I work in the kitchen and I see her in my mind's eye. All day I wished that I could talk to her and tell her about this wonderful find, the elderberries and what nice jelly they made. I also wish I could share some jelly bread with my dad. He really enjoyed elderberry jelly, as well as pie. Elderberries do take me back in time to very happy memories.
Done!
The store I was going to this morning doesn't open till 9 so I planned to leave shortly after that to buy the pectin to finish the jelly. At 9 it was raining rather briskly so I lingered in the warm house till 9:30, then put on my raffia hat, which makes a great rain hat, and my jacket and went out into the wild, wet morning. I wandered through the store twice looking for the pectin. It's not a name brand and it's very economical. I couldn't find it anywhere. At last I gave in and asked a clerk. I was dismayed at her answer. "We're sold out! We can't get it in right now and we're sold out." She said that they wouldn't get more in until next spring.
I had to make another Walmart run. I try not to go there every whipstitch and I was just there on Wednesday, but I had to go back again this morning. I had to ask twice for directions as to where it was in the store but they did have a good supply and I bought four boxes. It was a Ball product, not Surejell. I'd never used it before.
Having passed that hurdle, I made the jelly this afternoon and I feel so good about finishing the job. I really am glad to have this jelly.
Rain Again
It started to rain last night about 5 and it's been raining ever since. It's isn't pouring a deluge like it did after Hurricane Francis but we have a few spells of hard rain.
Yesterday as night was closing down around us, I was looking at the critter log and thought I saw motion. Close scrutiny helped me see that one of the squirrels was out there eating the corn. In the dim light, it blended into the log and didn't show up easily. When it moved the ear of corn around, it showed up only because of the motion. How well suited squirrels are to climbing trees and hiding there, too.
Our high school football game is at Warren this evening. I'll be listening to it on the radio again. I don't think it's much fun to play football in the rain, but I've never played football, rain or shine.
Carter Hill
Jean lives on Carter Hill. I remember that when I taught at Conelway, on stormy winter days, the kids from Carter Hill didn't make it to school. I looked around at the landscape and thought it looked really beautiful and tame. I mentioned Carter Hill winters to Jean and she responded with several stories of the storms they'd lived through, snowed in for days at a time. It's the drifting of the snow that socks them in, and there high on the hill, the snow comes down thicker and faster then just half a mile down the hill. But today, it was really beautiful there on the hill this morning.
Elderberry Realities
We went, we picked, we were surprised at how many there really were. Jean had suggested that there would be enough elderberries to make a batch of jelly. I thought I could handle that easily today. I was surprised to find that there were enough berries to make juice for four batches of jelly. That was too much for one afternoon and to have company for supper, too. I got two batches of jelly made and the rest of the juice is divided into the just right amounts for the next two batches of jelly.
I had forgotten what gorgeous color elderberry juice makes. And I discovered that color is very much related to the amount of light received. I guess I knew that, but I saw it so plainly as I worked with the juice. At first the juice was richly purple, but when it was cooking in the jelly pan, it was almost ruby red. When it came to the boil with the sugar in it, the jelly was dimpled all over and the color was medium crystal red. I know I just made that color up but it seems right. When I rinsed out the pan, the color was watercolor purple, on the red side. The blotches of drips on the concrete when I was taking the jelly bag outside to throw away the squeezings were dark, dark purple, almost black. The jelly bag was brown red. I wished I could take swatches of each color but there was no time for art, just the business of making the jelly.
I can make one more batch of jelly without going to the store to get more pectin. I may do that tonight. The hard part is done now. The juice is extracted and is measured and waiting for the boiling and ladling into jars.
This jelly is so good! I finished cleaning up the second batch of jelly at 4:29 and I had the evening meal on the table at 5, so I "done good!" Yeah for me!
Elderberry Possibilities
Last Monday when I met Jean in the doctor's waiting room, one of the things we talked about was picking elderberries. Last night she called to tell me that she checked out the stand of elderberries on their property and she thinks there are enough to make one batch of jelly. She gave my husband directions to get there. Later this morning, we're going out there to get the elderberries.
This, of course, takes me back to elderberry picking of long ago. I don't remember where we picked elderberries but I do remember that we had a lot of them. My mom would can them in quart jars to make pies in the winter months. My dad was very fond of elderberry pie. Well, to be honest, Dad really liked pie and elderberry pie was certainly near the top of his list, if he had a list. "I only like two kinds of pie," he would say, and then add, "hot and cold." "I only refused pie once," he would say, "and that was when I didn't understand what they said."
I remember one time when we'd worked all day shelling and canning elderberries, my mom, my little brother and I. We had probably picked them that day, too. We were nearing the end of the clean-up. The three of us were standing at the doorway to the porch. I think the kitchen towel fell to the floor and Mom wanted my brother to pick it up. And instead of saying his name, she said, "Elderberry!" Then we laughed and laughed because she was so tired she had elderberries on the brain.
The quarts of elderberries we canned that day were all used up and more were picked and processed. Time has marched on, but the memory of that day when Mom was so tired she called my brother "Elderberry" is stored away in a special place in the filing cabinet in my mind. When I think of elderberries, that memory rises to the top, above all the rest.
It's a Great Day!
Aquarobics was so good this morning. The water was so blue and sparkling. I know it's blue from the color of the tiles in the pool but today the water seemed bluer and brighter than usual. The water was warm and the exercise felt wonderful.
Today while I was doing my computer work, I was watching all my critters outside the dining room window at their various activities and it felt oh so good to be part of this world. Both the gray squirrel and the red squirrel were at the critter log today, and various birds were at the feeders, and the grinnies were at the bird bell. One grinny sat in the V of the trellis and looked around as though he was surveying his kingdom. I loved seeing him do that.
You know how some people have dogs which they keep outdoors all the time. I have two spiders that I call pets now and they stay outside in their webs. One is in the front flower bed by the Brown-eyed Susans and the other is in the bed of the pickup truck, up near the back window. They are both very big and are doing fine at catching gnats and insects.
And then this afternoon, the phone call! My friend from when I was a girl and lived half way up and half way down that hill called me today. I had written to her to tell her about the high school reunion because she had been unable to attend. I was elated to receive the call. We had such a satisfying conversation.
Now I have to go to choir practice. I got out of the habit over summer. It's time to get back into the winter schedule. But I'll carry this happy day with me.
Another Checkout Story
A friend at Aquarobics this morning told us a funny story. Her daughter was in line at a checkout counter, behind a woman who had to dump out the contents of her handbag to find the item she was looking for. One of the things she took out of her bag was the TV remote control.
The clerk ased her, "Do you always carry the remote with you when you go out?" The woman answered, "Only when I'm ticked at my husband."
We all identify with how important that remote is! We all know how easy it is to get up and walk over to the TV but we think first, and pretty much only, of using the remote. The more I thought about this, the more it struck me funny, until I was splashing around, doing the exercises, and quietly giggling as I thought of this scenario.
A Quote
This quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is included in my birthday gift book, Pure Seaglass by Richard LeMotte.
"The tide rises, the tide falls.
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls.
The little waves, with their soft white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands.
And the tide rises, the tide falls."
Aquarobics Question
My friend at Aquarobics hurried over to me in the pool and said, "I have a question for you. I used to know this but I don't remember it now. I know that you'll know the answer."
My curiosity was piqued but I was wondering if I would pass this test. "We sang it in church yesterday," she said and hummed, "mm mm mm mm" and filled in the word, "Ebenezer." I knew immediately the song she was meaning, and I do know the meaning of Ebenezer! I passed the test!
Ebenezer means, "Hitherto has the Lord helped us." She breathed a sigh of relief and I was pleased that I could set her mind at rest.
Birthday Cake
I forgot to mention that on Sunday, my friend, Terri, had a birthday cake for me during Sunday school class. So, I did get a birthday cake and I was very pleased. As I said earlier, I like a birthday that keeps on going. Every birthday needs a cake (or pie, or some special dessert). I'm happy that Terri gave me a birthday cake.
Bring a Dish to Share
When I need to take something to a covered dish dinner, you know, one of those events where everyone brings food to share with the rest of the crowd, I'm usually hard pressed to think what to take. It seems like the hardest part to taking something is deciding what to take. But this summer I came up with a good dish that most everyone seems to enjoy. I only bring home about half a cup of it.
It's a nameless thing, a fundamental "meat and potatoes" kind of deal. I came across it in my recipe collection while I was wondering what I could take to some picnic event. It starts out, peel enough potatoes to feed your family. As the potatoes cook you add a number of other ingredients, Polish sausage, creamed corn, whole kernal corn, mushroom soup.
True to form, I read the directions and proceeded to do it completely differently. I started with the sausage and sliced it thinly and sauteed it in my big, very old skillet. Then I cut up (I know you won't be surprised at this if you've been reading my blog for a while) lots of onions and put them with the sausage. While this was cooking, I peeled the potatoes. Since I was making it to take, I peeled and diced as many as would fit into the pan. When it was cooked, I added a can of corn, and decided that was all it needed. It was very good, just as it was.
Last night, I prepared this nameless potato dish and this time, I didn't put the corn into it. It was still delicious. I think it is the sausage and onion that makes it so good. And again, I brought home a little more than half a cup of it.
Choosing the Best Checkout Line
I'm so bad at choosing the right line to join to check out of any store. Even when I give it a brief study, I make the wrong choice. Usually there are factors which don't show up when you try to scope the best choice.
Today was no exception. I wasn't in a flaming hurry but I didn't want to spend a lot of time in line any how. There were two lines open, two people in each line. There weren't many items in the grocery cart of the person next in line in the first line. I decided to go there. It turned out that person who was being checked out was a diddly, little old lady. OK, for people who know me well I might as well admit that I often am a diddly, little old lady, but honest, I'm not kidding, this woman (women, but I'm getting ahead of my story) out-diddled me. Stick around, my dears, I could and probably will get a great deal more diddly than I am.
She wanted to pay with a credit card but didn't know if it was credit or debit, in addition to other diddliness. (I don't know either, so I pay with cash and don't hang up a whole line of people while I do it.)
I decided that I ought to move to the second line. A little girl of about 2 was sitting in the seat of the cart, munching on cookies from a bag. When I wheeled my cart up behind her mom's cart, she was sitting there facing me, with her mom at the front of the cart, waiting to get the groceries out onto the checkout counter. The child looked at me in great suspicion and clutched her bag of cookies tight to her chest. She even looked fearful. I told her that I wouldn't take her cookies but she never relaxed.
Finally I realized that this line had also stalled. I don't know why, except that it was another diddly, little old lady. After about five minutes in this line with no progress, I saw that the first line had made progress. The second lady in line was being checked out and she only had a few groceries, whereas Mama in this line had a completely filled cart. I moved back to the first line again. There weren't many people checking out at that time so I had the option to do so.
Guess what! This lady was also a diddly, old lady. Sigh. She fiddled around with paying and suddenly the checkout machine revealed that it was out of tape. Debbie, at the checkout counter, had to put new tape into it, (not the little lady's fault) and she was grumbling about "the green didn't show at all! I didn't even know it was running low." She got it replenished and tried to finish up with the old dear. The diddly, little lady decided that this was the ideal place to evangelize. "Could I give you this Gideon Bible?" she asked, and told Debbie God's plan of salvation, while the line was growing longer behind me.
In the second line I could hear Mama saying to the little girl, "Give the lady your bag of cookies. She'll give them back." The little girl really didn't want to part with them, not even for a few seconds. No wonder she was suspicious of me.
Meanwhile, Debbie is saying, "I have a Bible. I don't need your Bible." The lady says, "But this one fits into your purse. You can carry it with you." And Debbie is still saying that she doesn't want to take it. The lady didn't want to take No for an answer. "We're supposed to evangelize," she was saying. "Do you mean you won't accept this Bible?" She found it difficult to believe that someone would actually say no to another Bible. Debbie assured her that she had her own Bible and didn't want to accept her Bible. At last the lady wheeled her cart out of the way and it was my turn to be checked out.
I may be diddly sometimes, but today, I was a bright ray of sunshine and did everything just right! I'm sure Debbie was relieved that I gave her no problems as I checked out.
My Agenda Spins Away From Me
This morning I went to get my allergy shots before I went to Aquarobics. I took my new book with me, having finished the quilting story last night. My plans were to read till I was called in for the shots and if I was finished early enough, to do a brief grocery run before the exercise class.
When I walked into the waiting room a very pleasant woman had just signed in and was heading for a seat. She greeted me warmly. When I signed in, I read her name. Jean Puckly. OK, she's the mother of some of those spelling students I've been talking about. She definitely recognized and remembered me. Why don't I recognize these parents? They recognize me.
So we talked. She told me about her four children and how her youngest one took his senior year of school at a neighboring school district because he had a conflict with our coach and he wanted to play football. We ended our conversation by talking about berry picking. She told me that it isn't a summer for her unless she gets to pick blackberries at least once. We just started discussing the elderberries on their property when I was called in to get my shots.
Gertrude Hunt, one of our former parishoners, came in while I was talking to Jean. I briefly said hello to her. When I was finished with my shots, Gertrude was still there and I stopped and talked to her about her health. She's not very well.
Then I asked Jean, who was still waiting, if she thought the elderberries are still available now. I thought maybe they'd be victims of the birds by now. While I talked to her again, a young girl sitting with her back to us turned around and smiled at me and looked, --I wasn't sure if it was pleased or amused. And then I saw her mom, and this mom I did recognize. This was Abby, one of my long ago first grade students. She was pleased to recognize me.
So, before I left, I had to go to the other side of the row of seats and talk to Abby and her mom. Abby is not only graduated from high school, she is also finished with her next schooling. She told me very apologetically that she is a greeter for a furniture store. We talked about how it can be a stepping stone to move her closer to the job she trained for and really wants. We had a very pleasant talk.
I knew when I started to talk to Gertrude that I had a choice to make. I could nod to Gertrude and keep on going and do the grocery run or I could be a friend and stop and be a friend. I let my agenda spin away from me as I chose friendship. I did the grocery run after Aquarobics and brought the book home unread, but I cherish these memories of conversations with friends. They make me feel rich.
Statistics
All sports keep records of their statistics. When I was a teacher and I heard these statistics praised, I used to wish there would be a special recognition for some of the statistics I lived. Baseball, for instance, recognizes times at bat, runs batted in, homeruns, etc. While I was correcting spelling papers, I thought I must have hit an all time high for words corrected. For several years, I was the language arts teacher for fifth and sixth grades. That meant I corrected everyone's spelling in those grades. I checked their spelling homework every day in addition to the trial test and final test.
When I put the chalk into the desk and erased the chalkboard for the last time, I missed a lot of things about teaching, but correcting spelling tests wasn't one of them. Wonder how many spelling papers I did correct. On the other hand, I really don't want to know.
Gray Squirrel
In first grade we sang a song:
Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, whishy, bushy tail
Wrinkle up your funny nose
Hold a nut between your toes
Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, whishy, bushy tail.
My parents were sure the words were really "whisk your bushy tail," and they were probably right. I liked singing the little song and I wonder if it could be the foundation for my appreciation of the squirrel.
Any way, the gray squirrel was back this morning. I hadn't seen it for over a week and thought it had moved on to other squirrel-treat bars and then, just when I should leave for Sunday school this morning, there he was on my critter log.
He's the one I got the great picture of on the bird bell a couple months ago so I knew I had to get his picture again. He had taken some of the peanut butter mixture out of a hole and was sitting on the snag arm of the critter log munching it. The brown squirrel takes a treat and goes up to the gallows arm from which the critter log is suspended to eat it. Different styles!
I got several pictures but don't know yet if they were good or not. The log hangs in under the maple tree and even though the sun was shining toward it, it's shady under there.
At class this morning, I mentioned that I'd been trying to photograph the squirrel that comes to my cirtter log. Terri told me that her family has seen the squirrel and that every time they drive past our house, her kids look for the squirrel. That was nice to hear. I am providing community entertainment.
Boss Sparrow
I've seen little birdy fights at the bird feeder every day. One little sparrow bellies up to the feeding slot and a friend glides in behind him. I think it's females that I was watching today.
We have two sparrows at the feeder, on the same small lip of the feeder slot. Boss sparrow turns and with wings a flutter, she picks at the other with her vicious little beak. It must be vicious, that beak, because the other bird shrinks back and often gives up her right to eat at the same time. Some birds fight back with jabs of her own vicious beak.
Today I noticed that while this boss sparrow was fluttering with the wings and jabbing with the vicious beak, the little tail feathers were fanned out like a turkey or peacock array. I never noticed that before. Of course, the effect was completely different from a display of a turkey or a peacock. The sparrow's tail feathers are tiny compared to these bigger birds, and they aren't colorful at all. But it did puff the little bird up and make her look more fierce. And she did win! But I wasn't noticing if the other bird was using the fanned tail mode or not. I'll look for the fanned tail the next time I see sparrows dueling with their beaks.
Perspective and Loneliness
"We lose perspective most often when we operate all alone," Chuck Swindoll said. I never put it into words like that but I have noticed that it's true.
I've noticed it in relationship to church attendance, especially in the elderly. Even though their isolation is not of their choosing but of necessity due to failing health, it still affects them profoundly. Their thinking starts to slip and they get focused on how they feel and their own problems. They lose perspective and think no one cares and their aloneness becomes overwhelming. I think isolation affects people of any age but it is more noticeable in the elderly.
Joining with others for worship is a good way to keep our thoughts of ourselves and our needs in perspective.
The Quilting Story
I have been so much enjoying this quilting story that I am reading. There is a lot of background information about quilts woven into the story. The story itself is woven through two generations. At first I found it a little confusing and I had to back track and sort out what was going on. Once I caught on to the story format, I got really into it. I think my illness dulled my grasp of the story and characters at first.
Today I was reading about the character of the quilt itself. The mother-in-law in the story was telling "the girls" how important it was to make a proper quilt for the wedding quilt. Just think how dreadful it would be to make a "Contrary Woman" quilt. It would be a bad omen for the marriage. Or how about "Crazy Woman" or "Devil's Claws"? Completely unsuitable! It would be better to choose "Steps to the Altar" or "Lovers Knot".
I never gave a thought to the character of a quilt by what the name of the design would be. In fact, I didn't know many quilt block names. I know "Log Cabin" and "Drunkard's Path" and "Wedding Ring" and of course, "Nine Patch." Now there's a quilt that should fit in without making a problem.
The quilt that I sleep under in the winter is Grandma Emma's version of the crazy patch, where nothing matches but looks nice over all. The name, however, may suit my life. A bit of this, a bit of that, but everything working together in a rather pleasing way, (I hope).
Closing Summer Down
I've been looking at my house plants and thinking about what I'm going to do to get them all back into the house. I love having them outdoors in the summer. I still have lots of African violets indoors to make the house look like a green house without all the other plantss I keep.
I actually threw one violet away today. I was trying to reroot it and it didn't seem to be taking. I realized that I didn't have to fuss with it. When you have about 30 of them, you can toss anyone who doesn't shape up. I repotted another one which has shaped up very well. I am pretty sure it's the pink one I bought a couple of years ago. I've started several new plants from leaves from it and this one is too big for it's little planter, so I got a bigger one and potted it in that. I'd hate to have to toss it. I have very few pink violets and it is pretty.
I've started trimming back the geraniums, to get them ready to bring indoors. If I do them one or two at a time, it won't be an overwhelming job when we're threatened with frost. However, this year, I'm planning to let some of them take the frost and I'll replace them next year.
High School Football
Last night was our first home game at the high school. I usually go to the first home game of the season, especially when the weather is nice.
The weather did clear up yesterday and the temperature was mild. It probably was a good night for football. But I didn't have anyone to go with and I only tried halfheartedly to find someone. I really didn't feel well enough to go to a game for three hours. I'm glad that I stayed home.
We played Titusville, a town close enough to us to be our Arch-rival back in the 70's. The rivalry was so bad that fights would break out after these teams played the game, or during it. I think they were put into different divisions to solve this problem. Last year there was a major revamping of the divisions and once again these teams play each other.
The years have helped to erase the bad feelings between these two teams and last night there didn't seem to be any bad blood between them. There were no problems, except that Titusville beat us 47 to nothing!
I'm glad that I stayed home and listened to the game on the radio instead of going to it. However, the true reason I go to the football game at all is to see the band at half time. Maybe the weather will still be nice for their next home game. Maybe I can go then.
Mustard Plaster, Part II
I looked up Mustard Plaster on Google and found in several places that a mustard plaster is one part dry mustard mixed with four parts flour and stirred together with water to make a paste. This is spread on a cloth, often a piece of flannel and covered with cloth and then applied to the chest, or possibly the back, to deal with congestion or muscle pain. This must not be left on the skin too long because it will burn, even through the cloth.
But I still think I smeared something like oleo or lard on the cloth and then put mustard on it. I suppose I can be excused for forgetting this since it would have happened in the early '60s and I really have given it no thought at all for years.
To me, it's an almost forgotten art. I'm not sure whether it worked or not but the "old timers" of my day were sure that it was effective.
Mustard Plaster Heats Up the Memory
When I wrote about the onion poultice or mustard plaster earlier today, in one of my comments, I started to have this vague memory of having made a mustard plaster for one of my kids when he had a lot of congestion in his chest. But I couldn't get the memory back.
I was thinking, how would I have made a mustard plaster? I was only thinking about prepared mustard. I cannot stand the smell of mustard. I feel about mustard the way some people feel about onions. I don't want anything to do with it. Therefore, I knew I couldn't have made a mustard plaster.
Finally, the light dawned. You don't use prepared mustard! You use dry mustard. Now what did we spread on the cloth to make the mustard adhere? I didn't remember everything.
Outdoor Work and Weeds
What with the anniversary celebration, the high school reunion, the birthday celebration and the illness, I haven't been working in the yard much lately. This morning I took a walk through and did a bit of tidying up. There is so much work to be done out there.
I have two very interesting weeds growing in my garden. There's far more than two weeds there but two of them are worth mentioning. One is tall now. I let it grow on purpose because I didn't recognize it and wondered what it might be. It's probably a foot taller than I and spreads out with many, many branches. It is blooming with many clusters of yellow flowers at the tips of all those branches. It's pretty. It sways gently in the breeze and the bees seem to love it. I was tempted to pull it out today, so it wouldn't send seeds everywhere. But I couldn't see any seeds yet and it really is pretty. And then I saw the bees. If the bees like it so much, can it be that bad?
The other weed is growing up inside a tomato cage. It is about the heighth of a big tomato plant and it, too, has many branches. On the ends of all its branches there are tighly packed buds that are orange at the tip. I don't know if that's its flower in bloom or if those bud like things will open farther. It, too, is kind of pretty. I don't recall ever seeing these two plants.
I hope I never regret letting these two plants grow.
Up and At 'Em
I'm feeling so much better today but I confess that I took three major naps yesterday. The sun is shining beautifully and the rain is over. We had rain steady from Tuesday night till Thursday. Then it was a misty spray. It stopped raining in the afternoon.
Corry had some roads swamped with water and some places were without electricity. But Meadville had flash flooding in places that hadn't had flooding before. Within 10 minutes, water was waist high in their homes. It receeded quickly, leaving behind mud and destruction. Creeks rose by five inches in an hour. And this is not nearly as much as what people in Florida received. We just got rain from the tail end of the storm. Our hearts go out to those in Florida who have so much cleanup and repair to do now.
Meanwhile, the sun is shining today and I'm feeling able to eat breakfast and deal with my daily chores. After the storm, we start getting life back together again. I wish Ivan wasn't on the way!
Quilting
While I read this quilting story I get these urges that I want to piece a quilt again. The story tells how Eleanor's nanny taught her to piece a Crazy Quilt, against her mother's wishes. Her mother thought it was beneath Eleanor's social position for her to make a Crazy Quilt, for reasons that I already mentioned previously. I thought I knew a lot about quilting but the instructions that Miss Langley gives Eleanor have some points that I was not aware of.
If I do nothing about this urge, it will pass and I won't make a quilt. I am feeling creative urges stirring strongly.
I wrote six thank you letters tonight and I have three more to do tomorrow. I'm feeling more energy flowing into me now.
Maybe I will do something about quilting. The sewing machine is in good shape right now. The quilting I was reading about was hand stitching, though. Grandma Emma did her patches mostly with hand stitching.
The Incredible Edible --
I know it's supposed to be egg, but tonight I'm thinking Onion.
When I was in high school, either a junior or senior, I had an ignominious ailment, --an abcess on my tailbone. As I remember, it affected my whole body and I was so sick it took away my appetite. When I started to feel well again, I craved an onion sandwich. This was my first food after not eating for a while. One of my parents, I've forgotten which, thought that was a terrible thing to eat to break a fast from illnes, but the other thought that if that's what I wanted it would be OK to try it. My mom made me a delicious onion sandwich on toast. It was wonderful, and there were no harmful effects.
Today I dreamed that I was at a group picnic, apparently in a restaurant. There was food everywhere. I was hungry enough to be interested, and I went about choosing foods to eat, but I didn't eat till long after everyone else had finished. When I awakened, I knew I was ready to eat something for supper. I fixed a hamburger, in my Pampered Chef cooker-steamer, and got out my Sweet Onion and sliced a thick slab off it for my sandwich. I inhaled the aroma of the onion and it took me back to the episode I've just written about.
Few people that I know understand the incredible, edible onion.
Noon, It's Going to Be a Great Day - and Quilting
I slept again till just after noon. When I got up again, I found that I'm feeling even better than this morning. I even tackled a couple of chores. I got the rest of the trash out to the curb and it was just in time. I think I will be able to stay up this afternoon and do some little things I've been procrastinating about.
I'm breathing a big sigh of relief because I didn't get as sick as I thought I might.
I'm reading a quilting story, The Quilting Legacy. One thing I've learned so far is that some people who did quilts sneered at Crazy Quilts because they saw it as being made by poor people who couldn't afford anything better. Also, those who made the Crazy Quilts thought of them as colorful and decorative and not really functional. They didn't layer them with batting, so they weren't really very warm. I've always considered Crazy Quilts as highly functional and not especially pretty. My Crazy Quilts went right on the beds, not on display racks.
On the Mend
I got through the night fine. I was able to sleep after midnight. I feel much better this morning but I'm not ready to eat yet. This is odd. It's a family trait on my dad's side of the family that the appetite is the last thing to go when sick. With my mom, her appetite is affected right away.
I'll be going back to bed soon but I think I'm on the way to getting better. Actually, it's been rather mild compared to what other people have had, but it was still miserable. I hope my next entry can be about something more interesting than this one.
I'm Sick
Now I know why it was so hard to keep pushing for diligence today. I'm really sick tonight with stomach cramps and fever. Wondering what in the world came over me!
Goodnight world. Hope tomorrow will bring me out of this dreadful illness.
Diligence
I am being diligent today. Yesterday I wasn't diligent I was self-indulgent and relaxed. I like myself better when I'm diligent. Am I a better person when I'm being diligent?
Technically, I think I'm the same person either way but if I lived my life without diligence all the time, I would be a different person. I think there is really something better about being diligent. It probably relates to where the Bible says, If you don't work, you shouldn't eat. That's speaking of being in a community and doing your fair share. It's not speaking of invalids. But I'm not an invalid so I should do my work.
I think I remember my mom talking about "earning one's keep." Mom was always a hard worker. She definitely earned her keep.
Today I feel good about working hard.
Is it Ivan?
I haven't been paying close attention to up-to-date weather news but people were telling me yesterday that we would be feeling some effects from Hurricane Ivan. This one, they told me, should not follow the coast but instead come north through land and go right over Jamestown. They said it would be windy today and rain tomorrow and then a good weekend.
But it rained last night, late in the night. It rained in torrents, but no destruction that I know of. It's not raining this morning. There is a lot of wind, but not hurricane strength. Is this weather related to the hurricane activity? This has been a terrible year with hurricanes.
OK, I just heard on the radio that Ivan is approaching Jamaica and will get to Florida in a few days. So much for weather news from the 'voice of the people.' I think we're just having weather as we usually do. It would be nice to have something to blame it on, like Ivan.
Phone Answering Machines
While I was in New Ken over the weekend, I called my aunt, just to talk to her and to see if I could visit her. She wasn't home and her answering machine kicked in.
The phone answering machine always intimidates me. I try to condense what I have to say and I get flustered and I know I feel goofy but I try to leave a message any way. I told her machine who I was and where I was and said I'd call back later. Then in the afternoon, I tried again and got the machine again. I was even more goofy in talking to the machine the second time. I didn't know what to say. I think I mumbled something about trying again and then when I hung up, I wondered why I'd said that because I'd be busy for the rest of the day.
Today my aunt called me. She'd been away over the weekend and just got home. She got my message and was very unnerved, she said, because she thought I sounded like something was wrong. She thought I sounded like I was going to cry. She was very concerned.
I felt bad that I hadn't said I was just wanting to talk. I never meant to startle her. And I had no idea that I sounded like the voice of doom. But it's the answering machine. It really gets me flustered.
However, we had a very nice conversation after we got it settled that I just wanted to talk. She had a very nice five day outing in Ohio. We got caught up on some family news.
Luncheon with Aquarobics Crew
Our group that has Aquarobics together was invited to have a Jewish meal together with our friend. Last year she hosted this meal closer to Rosh Hashana and she had challah that her sister-in-law sent to her from Cleveland. Challah is a special bread, something like a stolen or cinnamon rolls. I so much enjoyed the occasion so I was glad to go back to it this year.
As I approached the house, carrying my dessert which I was bringing, I saw a chipmunk in the bird feeder. This bird feeder was on a solid post and both sides were glass with a small opening at the top between the glass and the roof of the feeder. The chipmunk was completely inside the feeder, like he was in a zoo cage. I wondered how he'd gotten in and if he was trapped in there. When he saw that I was watching him, he became uneasy and squeezed himself through that narrow opening and jumped to the ground and ran to the flower bed. When he saw that I was still watching, he escaped by running to the driveway and squeezing himself into the tiny hole at the base of the garage door.
When I left the house, I examined these openings more thoroughly. The opening between the glass and the top of the feeder was the size of the width of my index finger. I know have chubby fingers, but they really aren't huge. But he didn't need much room to get in and out. The little hole at the bottom of the garage door made me think of cartoons where there is an arched mouse hole in the wall. It wasn't anywhere near as big as the mouse holes in cartoons. It was a tiny upward curve where the door didn't fit smoothly against the concrete. The concrete under the hole was cracked. I think the hole has become that shape through the chipmunk constantly running in and out of that entrance. It's hard to keep little animals like that in their own place in the yard when they can get into the house easily through such small openings.
The main attraction today was Tzimmis (simmis) and chopped liver. The Tziummis is a dish made of brisket, sweet potatoes, carrots, prunes and seasonings. Last year we ate in the dining room on China plates with real silverware and beautiful tablecloth. Today we had plastic tablecloths with Jewish symbolism. They were pretty tablecloths and of course much easier to keep clean. We used paper plates and plastic utensils. Again, it was much easier to clean up. It took a lot longer last year to get the meal cleaned up.
All the food was good and we had a lot of good conversation as we lingered over the food. Everyone was asking for the recipe for the cookies that Mary Bailey brought. They are called Oatmeal Lace. They are thin and delicate and scrumptious and she made them in the hour after Aquarobics and before we met for dinner.
What a good meal!
Reasons We Buy
In reading my 1983 journal I found that I'd taken notes on an article I'd read that was written by Ernest Dichter.
Why You Buy
- Battle of Wits -- to prove that you can make a good buy.
- Anti-gloom -- to lift your spirits (Women tire of their furniture about seven years after buying it.)
- Spiteful -- Since no one cares about me, I will reward myself. These people often buy things they don't want or can't use and feel stupid afterward.
- Desire for individuality - unusual things
- Anti-fatalism -- Cosmetics, drugs, health resorts.
- Why Not?
- Increased mobility -- In an attempt to be anti materialistic, we buy more and throw away more. We change things around more.
- Discovery of the inner self -- the urge for creativity.
- Emancipation of Women -- Not afraid of doing things the easy way.
It was curious to me that I read this after having bought my red towel. Why did I buy it? Just to have something different - reason number 4. So, I fit into the list. At least it wasn't a big ticket item and it still feels good to have it. Yeah for the red towel!
Red Towel
Here's a picture of my new red towel in my nice blue bathroom, but the blue doesn't show up very well. The Mad Hatter Red shows up, though!
The Quiet Celebration
We went out to dinner this evening. I had a suspicion that the restaurant would be closed for the holiday but my husband thought it wouldn't be. So we took a chance on it, and it was closed. Then we drove to Findlay Lake and the three restaurants there were closed. After that, we went on into Erie and ate at a restaurant there.
It was a really nice day for a drive through the country. I never thought of taking my camera along and we passed some great scenery.
After dinner, we went to Barns and Noble and I browsed to my heart's content. My husband found a big book on WWII and sat and read and I took my good old summer time! I bought one book, an Earlene Fowler, Steps to the Altar. I won't get to read it for a while, but I know it will be in my To Be Read pile, another little birthday gift.
It's been a very nice birthday.
Birthdays at Dinner
At the reunion dinner on Saturday, we were seated at round tables, eight to a table. The centerpiece was a fat red candle in a clear glass bowl (like a fishbowl) with a little greenery around it. At the close of the meal, Eileen Smith, one of the organizers of the reunion, asked us to get to know each other better by telling each other what our birthday is. I thought I would be unique in having a birthday on Sept. 6 but Bill Glovier's birthday is September 4!
After most of us told our birthdays, Eileen said that the real reason she asked about the birthdays is that each person at the tables whose birthdays were the closest to Spetember 5 would get to take the centerpiece. I know that September 4 and September 6 are equally close to September 5, but actually, his birthday was exactly on the day we were celebrating. I immediately said, "Bill, you get the centerpiece." I was pleased to have him receive the centerpiece. I have enough.
Seeing Red
One day last week the idea came to me. I have almost all blue bathrooms. Upstairs the bathroom fixtures are blue porcelain. Of course I have blue towels with very few other colors and the others are pale, soft colors, --one gray, one beige, and a pale yellow. Suddenly, I knew I wanted one towel to be different. I wanted one towel to be bright and colorful and outrageous. I had this mental picture of something bright red.
When we went to Walmart after visiting my mom on Friday, I decided that it would be the best time to choose my Mad Hatter towel. Tessa and Elsa went with me, to help me find the right towel and to keep me safe from being left behind when everyone went back to the car. (It was a fun thing.)
In the first aisle with towels we found some really vivid colors but not red. The blue was different than any blue that I have. It was jump off the shelf blue and the yellow was brightest sunshine. The reds there weren't vivid. I picked up an electric, lime green towel and was going to buy it since the red wasn't right. It would be outrageously, Mad Hatter different from anything I have, but I still had that mental picture of bright, redder than red towel. Elsa kept looking and found that there were more rows of towels and sure enough, there was my towel! Tessa put the electric, lime green towel back and I got my wonderful new towel.
It's a lovely towel. It's big enough to wrap around me and it's soft, and the color is unlike anything else that I have. It's just what I wanted for right now. I think it's a birthday gift to myself but I know I would have bought it if even if it wasn't my birthday. Happy Birthday NJK. Today's the day!
We're going out to dinner this evening. If I was a kid, I'd wear a birthday crown. It's going to be that kind of birthday for me today. It's number 68. I love birthdays.