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  My blog was filled up. I'm too lazy to clean it out. So I started a new one. |
| I don't know what made me think of it, but I recall the most fun wedding I have ever attended. The bride and groom were traditional and yet so unique. The wedding was unique as well. She had been a professor at a junior college in West Virginia. She was marrying a widower with two small children. Both had busy jobs and traveled a lot. There were older. It was a first wedding for her. She could dress rather plainly most of the time, but the wedding day, she was like something out of Glamour Magazine. She wore an off-white suit, with a Victorian white ;ace blouse. She wore a long locket that had belonged to her mother. Rather than carrying a bouquet, she wore a corsage of yellow rosebuds. White stockings and shoes, of course. Instead of a veil or flowers in her upswept hair, she wore a navy blue hat. It was new, but had a quaint look to it. She's tiny, so she was a vision. The wedding was in the chapel at the college, and the reception in one of the buildings. There were mostly professional people there, some clergy, and relatives. The ceremony was performed jointly by a woman chaplain friend and her minister brother-in-law. At the reception, she ran around with no shoes, and told us how she couldn't wait to get out of her girdle. That struck me as odd in several ways. Even back then, not many people still wore girdles. 2nd, she didn't mind saying so in front of the men. 3rd Why would someone so small with no flab need one? The arrangements with the caterers were that she would get all the leftover food. So there was a mad scramble to pack it all up at the end. I had to travel with the group, so I was part of the scramble. The bride had stayed in the hotel room one night before moving to her friend's house. I occupied the same room with a married friend of hers, whom I had never met. Her husband couldn't come. Sharing saved money, but the bride paid for us. She got dressed after the wedding in our joint room. After the reception, we all went in our various vehicles to her friend's house way up on the hillside. We carried in all the food. The house was this huge thing with glass on one entire side. The view of the sky and the valley was phenomenal. That front room held a baby grand and a ton of people. We walked around outside, while they told us more about how they designed the house. It was a little overcast by then, after a very sunny day. The groom told us how it would be cool to sit on a porch like that one with a bottle of wine and watch a thunderstorm roll in over the valley. That gave me new insight into his personality. After we were all back inside and settled, they started opening presents with the help of the kids. You don't often get to see them open their gifts. Then we laid all the food out on the counter and ate again.There was the usual joking and everyone was his or her funniest. The next morning, we all went to the hotel dining room, her relatives and those who had stayed there. The bride and groom met up with us and treated us to breakfast. Many protested. They had spent enough already. let us take care of our own bills. No, they insisted. They were grateful to have us with them at this important time in their lives, They wanted to be there with us to start off their married life. I have been to many weddings, some pretty impressive. But none have ever stood out in my memory like this one. I never enjoyed myself as much at any other. |
| Thank goodness I don't have to work today. Twenty years ago, or more, I would go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I'd be one of the first s300 and get a candy bar or a special coupon, and I would shop until the door busters stopped at noon! I'm older and wiser and slower. I tire more easily. I do my shopping before Thanksgiving. I always have a few unexpected things to get later, but that's okay. This year it's the same. The bulk of my gifts are ready to wrap. However, I was tempted today to go shopping for myself. Then I realized I have too long a list of things. So I slowed down and let it sink in, before I get myself in debt in one weekend. I pay all my bills in full each month, so I can't spend more than I take in, which is limited. Thursday night I was looking at new bed pillows, a comforter set, boots, possibly a jacket, a food processor, and a desktop computer. And maybe a coffee maker. My dad wants to go check out some door busters, but he's slow and gets tired easily. I have to drive him, so we can't hit all my stops and his, too. After thinking about it over night and half the day, I don't need a new bed cover, but I could use some pillows. I can live without a food processor, but not without a computer. I don't need a jacket, but could use some boots, if I can find some that don't hurt my bunions (You know how old joints start to separate and pull away, well, that's another story.), The biggest problem with our current coffeemaker is that he has always made the coffee and wants to continue doing so to prove he still has it. He can't see the opening and pours water all over the counter every morning. I come in and mop it up, while he complains about how the coffeemaker is boiling away the water and not making enough coffee for all the water he puts in. A new pot won't solve that problem. So after hours of perusing the ads, we have tinkered away at other things and have not gone shopping. When I remembered how tedious it is to stand in line just to pay, I felt relieved we didn't go out. I'm sorry we missed the bargains. Maybe after dinner tonight or tomorrow. I promised the kids we'd make angel wings out of poster board on Sunday, so I have to go out and get that. We're still planning on our own little family enactment of the nativity outside at my niece's barn. One rehearsal before the show will be it. So I've got to get moving on wings and robes!When you go all out for a holiday like we do, you need a day to just do nothing before starting the new series of projects. |
| I watched an old cowboy movie last night. It was new to me, but was made in the 60's, a sequel to The Magnificent Seven. I never knew there was a sequel. Yul Brenner was still the star, but the co-star was Robert Fuller (replacing Steve McQueen in the same role). A different guy, not as endearing, played Chico. These were the only three survivors from the first movie; they found four replacements to make Return of The Magnificent Seven. Once again they go to the same Mexican village, this time without pay, to help against a different group of bad guys. They used the same music, probably some of the best movie themes ever, but they could not recapture the greatness of the original. The Mexican actors weren't as sympathetic. The bad guy was not quite the low life that Eli Wallach was in the original. Although, I loved Steve McQueen as Vint, Robert Fuller was pretty good. And he's eye candy. Scene after scene of his pretty blue eyes and facial features, I started thinking he must be the prettiest cowboy ever. I could name a lot of categories. My all-time favorite cowboy was Charlton Heston, whether he was handsome and dashing, or made to look homely as in Will Penny. The sexiest might be Sam Elliott. The classiest is Gregory Peck, and he might be tied with Sam Elliot. Actually, I had a thing for Darren McGavin, too. When I was a child, my favorite was Roy Rodgers. I have a crush on Clu Gulager that has lasted into his golden years. Chuck Connors falls pretty high on the list. If we're speaking strictly of good looks, Doug McClure makes the list, as does John Smith. If we go with best cowboy voices, I'd have to include Clint Eastwood, Clu Gulager, Tom Selleck, and James Drury. (Drury's voice is still distinctive, but isn't the same as in his movie making days,) When I started thinking about it, I made a list of ugly cowboys, funny cowboys, etc. Which brings me to today's question: Who is your favorite cowboy? Who is the best looking cowboy in your eyes? I would love to hear your response and any other category you have for western actors. I'd have to have Michael Landon, Ricardo Montalbon, and Gary cooper on there somewhere. |
| According to today's news, the largest number of homeowners are over age 65. However, this is an age when they start to need modifications to the home, such as wider doors for wheelchairs or ramps.These are very expensive changes just as people are going or are already on fixed incomes. We found this to be true when my mother broke her hip in the middle of the night. They had to work very fast because she had heart trouble. The nature of the fracture required having the operating table at an odd angle. Her bone never healed completely. She could get out of the wheelchair to stand, to transfer to the toilet or the bedside. She could on occasion use a walker, but it was rare that she could walk freely for more than a few feet with a cane or walker. None of the interior doors were wide enough for a wheelchair. She had to park it in the hallway, hobble into the bathroom where she could grip counters and doorknobs and make it into her bedroom. She could only go downstairs if someone carried her wheelchair. It was a split level entrance with a step outside. So my brother built a ramp from the front of the house by the garage, over the existing steps, along the side and up the back to the porch. I looked up the requirements, which is one inch incline per foot of distance. My brother did about 3 inches per foot, so it was difficult to push her up. They had to leave the back door unlocked when they went out. I decided that if I ever built a house, I would make all the interior doors, except small closets, at least 34 inches wide. All thresholds, inside and out, would be barrier free. All bathtubs and showers would have handicap bars firmly attached to wall studs. There would be at least one walk-in shower (not the kids). The bathrooms have to be roomy for people on crutches or walkers to navigate. Light switches and outlets have to be easily accessible. This no doubt would improve the resale value. It would cost less up front than in a later change. I hated that my mom couldn't access all the areas of her home. She was so restricted. These problems could affect someone at any age. I'd like to see more builders take these problems into consideration. More families are beginning to stay together longer. This would help. |
| I recommend Deep South for those who enjoy a whodunit. The author has been a ranger in the National Park Service and writes about what she knows. Her previous novels were set in the West, but here, her character has transferred to Mississippi for a job promotion. I loved her descriptions of the people and the place. She has the eye of both an environmentalist and a law enforcement officer. She makes Mississippi sound inviting, even as she describes its worst features. The mosquitoes, the humidity, the kudzu that grows 18 inches a day, the mud, the frequent rain, the heat all become an intricate part of her story. On top of the climate and earthly conditions, there's the Civil War history and artifacts, the racial tensions, the class distinctions, tradition, and the newness of a woman in a man's job. Her social commentary is indirect as she tries to solve the murder of a teenage girl on prom night. Practical jokes in that area include tying an alligator under her car--Just a baby--he's only six feet long. Another regional difference that adds to her suspense. She keeps you hanging on, dying to know what will happen next. Deep South is dynamic and action-packed. It begins in the voice a "Yankee" but becomes respectful and appreciative of the very unique Mississippi, as she and the locals adapt to change. Barr is very insightful and well worth the read. I'm going to look up other books by her. |
| We're seven weeks into autumn, only six left to go. it's finally cold at night, typical high school football weather, and sometimes cold during the day. My elephant ears froze and fell limp to the ground like wilted celery, all mushy. That means the bulbs died, too. If only we had covered them up or cut them off and dug up the bulbs. The basil has shriveled away, and the tarragon's on its way out. But the sage is still thriving and fragrant, and will be here come spring with or without any protection from me. The chives are lush green and ready for harvest. They will die back for the winter and return come spring without my help. It's a gloomy day, but no rain. The local reservoir is starting to fill up again. The local usage restrictions might be lifted later this week. The small birds have flocked to my loaded feeder hanging off the deck. The air is very still. Mother Nature is very quiet today. It gives me the feeling that the weather is about to change. Either a cold rain or snow will come. It's rare to get snow this time of year, but it has happened. Thanksgiving is only a week away. So much to do. Dinners and concerts, birthday parties, baby showers, housekeeping, shopping, etc. I have to catch up on so many things. This time of year races by. I usually feel ready to face Christmas in mid-January. The kids have told me what they want for Christmas. Now they want to bake cookies with sprinkles. They love sprinkles. We'll see. I carried the trash out to the street this morning and stopped to survey the yard. I'm going to have to hire someone to rake this year. I just can't handle it all. The kids in my family aren't big enough yet to handle a rake satisfactorily. Yet despite the work, autumn is my favorite time of year. The beauty of the changing leaves is just a disguise for the fact that the leaves are dying. It's kind of like middle age. Not as young and healthy as before, but still capable of great beauty and awesomeness. |
| It's happening! My dad is in the other room playing Christmas music! I have to admit I'm singing along with the familiar, comfortable songs. They're nostalgic. They raise the hopes for a better world, for a peaceful family, for childhood wonder in the adult years. And the smoothness of Doris Day's or Johnny Mathis' voice doesn't hurt. It's soothing. Overall, the music is perky. They may have a few contemplative Christmas songs, but for the most part, they're happy and upbeat. We can use that once a year. Admittedly, I didn't want to start my Christmas season so early. The weather here has been very cold. Some plants died in the freeze, but my sage and chives are still thriving. I wish we had cut the elephant ears back in time, and put the bulbs away. They can be replanted next year, but one freeze kills the bulb as well as the plant. We had ice in some buckets filled from a recent rain. On the down side, I had a mishap with my pot roast. It was in a disposable pan, covered with fresh foil, not a wrinkle in it. The pan was full with vegetables all around. I placed the pan which was flimsy in a heavy cardboard box, but the box was too big. I entered my foyer to run it to the folks planning to serve it to homeless women, the pan slid in the box, toppling out of my hands. It fell to the floor against the wall, where I caught the foil against the meat. I lost almost half the vegetables and a lot of broth on the floor. Thank goodness, the meat stayed in the pan, The pan was bent from the clash with the wall and my hand, the foil was crumpled. The pan had some empty spots. Not too pretty, after all. i re-covered it, rushed out to drop it off. When I returned home, I had to clean my floor and throw out potatoes and carrots to feed about 2 to 4 people. The new potato salad recipe didn't work out. I liked it, but my dad didn't. Roasting two kinds of potatoes in olive oil and spring onions was okay. Tossing them with bacon crumbles and diced green onion tops and black pepper was okay. Serving at room temperature was okay with me (potato salads are usually cold). But the dressing calls for miso. I don't have any and did not want to buy fermented soybean paste just for one use. So instead of mixing that with vinegar, I just used lite Italian dressing sparsely sprinkled on. I have lots left over. Dad wants it hot --"Is it supposed to be served cold like that?" So, we won't be using that for Thanksgiving. It does look nice, tho'. The girls made brownies with me and decorated them with sprinkles-their idea. They had fun. One of them helped set the table, and did some other things. She took some credit, and patted herself on the back. She's five. Julie Andrews is singing now. I think I need to go read a book. |
| I was cooking when the power went out. I had three things going on at once. I was cooling off the pot roast with potatoes and carrots that I cooked for the homeless shelter for women for Sunday. When cool, I would transfer it to an aluminum pan with foil covering, refrigerate until tomorrow, and they'll reheat at the shelter. Others are bringing the rest of the meal. The second was that I had in the oven some roasting potatoes, sweet and regular, for a potato salad I found in a magazine. The trial run at home will be tomorrow; if they like it, I'll do it again for Thanksgiving. I'll be able to do most of the work the day before, then bring to room tempera the next day and toss with vinegar and green onions. A little less stress on the holiday. The third item I was just finishing up-boxed mac and cheese for supper with Dad. I had leftover Waldorf salad and tossed salad. I had to mix up the macaroni in the dark, but we weren't ready for dinner. We groped around in the dark until he found his little flashlight-imagine an old man shuffling in the dark-and then some matches. For about five hours my neighborhood had no power. I left the potatoes steaming in the hot oven and wouldn't open it, so they finished cooking anyway. It was cold, ice had formed on the back porch. The most light around was a solar windmill on the porch, a model T with lights on its wheels standing out of a large flower pot. I had already fed the neighbor's cat, so that was done. We sat with our candles to read and a transistor radio on the only station he could find, a gospel station in another town. To break up the boredom, we got up to eat lukewarm and cold food. I couldn't concentrate on my book, so I closed my eyes and listened to the music and the thoughts running through my head. Finally, when my dad had to get up and stretch his aching bones, the lights came back. That meant I had to deal with all the food and wash dishes. The cold air in the house had kept the food well. I have oil lamps in the window behind the washer. In other words, they're not accessible in emergency. I could have gotten on my exercise bike. It's not like I need to see where I'm going, and it would have warmed me up. But no. I sat. I could have written some notes on the book I was reading, but I had an excuse not to do that. I bent the frame of my glasses in the dark. The power outage is going to be my excuse for everything that doesn't go right this weekend. Very inconvenient. But convenient. |
| I'm all over the place today. I substituted wax paper for parchment paper. Actually, the recipe didn't call for either. But I saw Alton Brown using it for cookies to avoid misshaping them by scraping off the pan with a spatula. So I thought I would try the same for my sausage balls that I'm taking to a brunch in the morning. We're doing boxes for Operation Christmas Child, and I haven't purchased anything yet. I have to stop off at the Dollar Store for crayons on my way to the brunch. Let me tell you that wax paper doesn't work. It sticks to whatever you're cooking, unless it's soft like a cake. I had to take a knife and cut off the bottoms, so that no one will eat wax paper. i did manage to do the last pan with parchment. It worked like a dream. The wax paper keeps the pans easy to clean, but no so good for the food. I'm not happy with the lopsided turnout of voters in my state. The winning side did a lot of emotional and untrue ads. They were obviously using scare tactics. Neither side did much in the way of platform or issues. It was all personal attacks and mud-slinging. It was ugly. The voters for the other side just didn't go out in the rain to make an effort. Their indifference determined the outcome. In this season of horrible TV programming--my favorite sitcoms have turned political and repetitive, I have been watching Christmas movies on Hallmark channels.They are usually romances and have strong elements of nostalgia and positive outlooks. Circumstances are somewhat contrived. Instead of being hectic, and having normal work and school hours, they always have time for skating, shopping, decorating, and singing. You know, the way we fantasize that Christmas should be, with hot chocolate and down time. After a few, you begin to recognize the actors and realize they must have contracts with Hallmark. The bigger names include Roger Moore of 007 fame, who appeared as a stuffy English grandfather. He hates Christmas, but undergoes a rapid change of heart around his grandchildren and his late daughter-in-law's sister, their guardian. It's kind of fun. I tell myself I could write stories like that. I can contrive some good, clean family tales. So I justify the time sitting in an easy chair. In June, my neighbor, a doctor, left to practice medicine in another state. She had to get a license to go there. her husband joined her two weeks later. I was asked to feed the cat. A family member would come once a month to give the cat a flea treatment and check up on her. That person also cuts the grass and is now raking leaves. The summer is over, and I still have the cat, an outdoor cat. They practiced with her, getting her to eat on my patio. I was only expecting "summer". Now it's almost Thanksgiving, and this cat is still begging for dinner on my back porch. No sign of anyone next door, except I notice the grass is cut. I think I've inherited a cat. The money they left for food has been gone quite a while. The cat was only feeding at night, but now she's there 24 hours, crying like she's starving. |
| Note that I have a 13+ rating here, so I can discuss the topic at hand. (I did not choose the rating originally, but I wrote about a violent crime in my area that haunted all of us. The rating was placed on it my management. I just left it.)I will be referring to the entertainment industry as "Hollywood" in a very lose sense, not the actual place. OK, I did not coin the title of today's blog. I got it from Laura Ingraham, a news commentator. It just seems to fit. Hollywood has been getting more graphic and more violent as time passes. We are becoming desensitized to sexual crime, to abuse, to loose morals. No matter how hard a parent tries to protect their children from what's on TV or in the movies, all their friends know about it and talk about it at school, and even at church. These "things" are on the Internet and in the music. The kids watch and move with the music. Girls dress kind of slutty at an early age, not knowing any better. I've heard young boys talking filth around grown-ups like it's normal. So now, we are appalled as new charges are made almost daily about Hollywood moguls and actors. But if we think about it, all that darkness comes from somewhere. What is in the heart of the "artist" who thinks up this stuff, who produces it and directs it. Granted the actors and crew may be mere pawns seeking fame and fortune, so they do what they're told. But don't they get hardened by it after a while. When do they stop thinking of it as out of the norm? If they are busy dreaming up the violent and sadistic, maybe that's what they want or begin to want. Does filth come from a seedy, dark soul? As a writer, I don't want to be censored. There are times when we have to deal with the realities of life, and they sometimes include crime and sickness. So where do we draw the line? I know in many films, perversion is superfluous. We don't need to see masochism; we can take a hint. We don't need to see the face that a bullet has blown through (I saw that tonight from a two year old movie. It did not add to the reality. It was just nasty.)When does the artist have to repress his desire to thrill and excite? When does he or she have to stop pushing past the boundaries? Obviously, the objectification of women and the brashness on camera, and maybe in books, is coming home with a vengeance. People are losing their jobs. Many will go to jail. If this many people are speaking out, think how many are still holding their secrets.Even if Hollywood cleaned up its act just a little, the damage may have been done. When I was kid, porn consisted of pictures of women with bare chests. I remember the boys would sneak outside to look at the Sears catalog for pictures of women in undergarments. Now they can see more live in the grocery store, and see all on the Internet. Our culture has lost the sense of right and wrong. The idea of a faithful couple is a thing of the past. Ingrahm had two child and family therapists on her show. They both claim that they are seeing abnormal behavior in children as young as six. They don't know what normal relationships are. If they want something, they want it NOW. There is no patience, no reasoning. These children believe they have the right to demand and take what they want when they want it. So did these moguls of entertainment and business. As members of a creative community, we have to figure our part in setting things right for the next generation. We don't want even more people to experience what these victims coming forward have endured. We want freedom and must not be censored. But we must be responsible, too. |
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