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 |  I've maxed out. Closed this blog. |
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This is a way of making myself write something coherent and grammatically correct almost every day. I'm opinionated and need an outlet. I'm also prone to flights of fancy. Thanks for stopping by. |
| I watched the Republican debate tonight. What fun! It was extremely entertaining. Those guys can make some really good jokes, mostly at Hillary's expense, but D.C. politicians in general. I think Trump lost some ground. People like his outspokenness, but they saw him dodge issues and pat himself on the back too much. For me, his attitude about women stinks. At least now I know a little about the other candidates. My neighbor's daughter reads about 2 or 3 books a day when she's off for the summer. The neighbor is a doctor and just doesn't have time to read mysteries. So I have two boxes full of books today. We're going to pick out the ones we want. The rest will go to charity. We already have bought more than we can handle. I've got to make zucchini bread and put it in the freezer. It slices very thin just before it thaws out completely, and freezes very nicely if wrapped properly. Then we can have it all fall, for church events, or other functions, when I don't have time or fresh zucchini. Friday, I am the volunteer church secretary, so that the real secretary can go on vacation. We use volunteers for reduced hours just to take phone calls and handle emergencies. So I'll carry a book with me. Then I can walk around the parking lot, which is on several levels, since the church is on a hill. If it's not raining, I can get my exercise right there. I'll take my I-Pod for music and stop watch function. |
| Organic vegetable delivery today! I love the green beans. They put the perfect amount for 2 or 3 people. There are no bad spots to pick off. The last batch I cooked with the organic new potatoes, also clean and hand picked for excellence. This week included eggplant which we're trying to grow on the back porch. Ours are in pots, so they're smaller, and turning brown. I guess I should pick them before they get bigger. The box has one onion each week, which is sweet, not bitter. Several green peppers and little cucumbers (pickle size). The yellow squash are the straight neck variety, but weren't included this week. And we get 4 peaches each week, which are better than the ones in the grocery store. The tomatoes are healthy and ripe. Our homegrown ones are usually misshaped, or have lines in them. When Dad was more of a gardener (younger), he'd have more varieties, which included nice sandwich size tomatoes, as well as cherry tomatoes. We don't get enough any more to make fried green tomatoes, maybe at the end of the season, when it's too cool for them to ripen. The organic corn leaves a little to be desired. It's smaller than the commercial corn, and does have spots on it, or missing kernels. It saves us, though, from going to the farmer's market, where you don't know if it's really organic, or they just say it is. This delivery comes from a reputable farm. The box includes a newsletter from her farm, and includes her family life. The price isn't bad. What we grow in the garden feeds the local animals, especially the deer, and sometimes us. We've gathered the squash fairly well. We're growing peppers, too. He has pumpkins planted somewhere. The strawberry plants only feed the birds. I want to grow lavender next year. I understand it keeps mosquitoes away. If it does I can spend more time outdoors without being covered with bug spray. |
| We went to court today to testify against someone who stole cash from our house. We were disappointed with the court proceedings, but realized we wouldn't have gotten any of our money back from her. My dad didn't have to testify. I was only there to make sure he was okay and help with his hearing. My cousin brought her adopted child to our house to clean for us. We trusted her, to a degree. I was at work when she was there. My dad won't babysit anyone. But there were two rooms he didn't want anyone to enter. One of her weeks there, he happened to count the cash in his file cabinet and discovered a lot of bills were missing. On further checking, he found more money from other envelopes and bank bags missing. Then he searched the house and discovered a lot of coins missing. Rolls of quarters, dimes, and nickels. She didn't bother with pennies. Dad had rolled my brother's coins after his death, and they were substantial. Mom had bought old coins, worth more than face value. They were all gone. We tried to figure it out, how she got those heavy things out of the house without calling attention to herself. I'll skip the details for now. She admitted to the investigator that she took the coins over 3-5 weeks. She denied taking the bills. It came to over $3000, so that is grand larceny. She had 3 charges against her, but they offered her a plea bargain. Plead guilty to the first two, the third would be dropped. She'd have to do 60 days in jail, 10 months suspended, and pay restitution. Now we get to the part that I found surprising. The court decided our insurance company would be responsible for the loss, and she only has to pay the deductible! So if you rob someone of a million dollars, you only have to return the deductible on the insurance policy. Isn't that nice for the criminal? The insurance company won't be repaid ever, even if the criminal strikes it rich after the jail time. She gets a year to pay the deductible to the court after she does her time. They're working with her on her time to serve after her doctors' appointments. They're so understanding of her unemployment and circumstances! She did not go to jail today. Here's the thing, though. She and her boyfriend, also unemployed, do drugs. And they support his mother, also unemployed. I don't expect her to pay the court the money within the guidelines they give her. She'll probably go back to jail before the year is up. Plus, druggies need more drugs. Her boyfriend and his mom will probably get her to do something wrong again. I feel sad for her. She's in with the wrong people. But I'm shocked with the court system. |
| Think about the evolution of cameras in our lifetimes. The older you are the more you've seen. We've gone from Polaroid being cutting edge to Instamatic to disc camera to digital. Remember threading the film through the older cameras? If you got it in correctly, you could get an extra shot or two. I thought about this while I was watching a 1941 black and white movie in which Gloria Swanson struggled to get film in her camera on board the private ship (not a yacht). The movie was Father Takes A Wife, also starring Desi Arnaz as a handsome young stowaway. I remembered that we have many more pictures of the kids in my family now, all preschoolers, than we had of our whole first 18 years and beyond. Future family historians should have better records if these photos are saved. If they just stay in someone's phone or Ipad until it's replaced, they won't linger. I went through all our old photos, the albums my mother kept, the ones I kept, the loose photos that belonged to my great aunt, then my grandmother, then me. I scanned them all, identified them, and sorted them on my desktop. I'll have to make arrangements to save it on another hard drive. I don't know what future technology will be able to use them. I don't know what relatives to leave them to. They may just die with me and the computer. At any rate, I can make some pleasant PowerPoint presentations for anniversaries and retirement parties or family tree displays. I like to watch a little slide show every now and then, the old pictures, combined with digital ones, according to subject matter. They do conjure up memories. I'm glad pictures are so easily available now to anyone who can carry a device. If they will store them somewhere safe, they'll treasure them someday. |
| It's funny that when you make it a goal to get more sleep, you get less. At least I do. I went on this "health" kick to get 8 hours of restful sleep. Since starting, I can't go to sleep for hours, I wake up frequently during the night, and get up early. I can't take naps during the day. I was doing better when I wasn't thinking about healthy sleep. I am getting more exercise, less caffeine, etc. Sleep is supposed to keep away the wrinkles, make your skin firmer, avoid bags under the eyes, improve your memory and your blood pressure, and even help you lose weight! I'm turning the computerized devices off earlier. I'll have to increase the hard work some more. Maybe reading right before bed will help. My mind is just going constantly. And I have no stress! |
| It sometimes amazes us what we don't know about people we think we know. I can't tell you how many funerals I've attended only to discover fascinating things about the person when it was too late. Recently I attended a group seminar where we all know each other fairly well and see each other often. The leader finished his lecture, then gave us an exercise to do. We took a few minutes then took turns going around the room, no obligation to share anything. We were overwhelmed with the the answers and the deeper understanding and appreciation for the others we found. We felt closer than ever. No one brought up anything that was shared later on. (There were no dirty secrets or criminal activities.) Instead, they wanted to get together again just so everyone could tell his or her "story". In the fall, we plan to go to one couple's house, for a meal and a sharing time. We get to talk about ourselves, no pushing, and to listen to everyone else without interrupting. We can talk about our dreams, our passions, our blissful childhood, our accomplishments or whatever we want. Everyone has a story. We don't always know our story until we think about it or have some helpful questions. And we forget that everyone else has a story. Listening to their stories helps to validate them. It also builds the bonds between us. My group does community service. Hopefully the sharing will strengthen us and make us more caring servants of our community. |
| It was a hot and humid day. It felt like mid-summer. The weeds are growing faster than I can pull them. The vines we have growing around here spread two feet over night. We have several varieties that wrap around the shrubs and trees and cling to the side of the house; and we have the kind that grow along the ground, crowding out the grass and creeping underneath the landscape timbers. But we're getting squash and zucchini before the deer trample all of them. My dad likes to feed the birds and puts out an abundance every morning. We have year round cardinal residents, some blue jays, doves, and wrens. Occasionally, we have indigo buntings, gold finches, robins, various blackbirds, and others. Some of the seeds fall to the ground and sprout. These are purple plants and very fragrant. The tiny seeds grow fast and reach about 2 feet or more in height. The wind must blow them around, because they're showing up all over the yard and in my pots. I pull them out of the pots because they will get too big and take nourishment away from my flowers and herbs.I think they're ugly when they get big, but I still don't know what they are. Dad likes them, so he lets them grow. The sunset this evening was gorgeous. I'm on the side of a short mountain over the river. I happened to be a little higher up tonight and caught the view in the perfect spot. The clouds made a gold band above the horizon. There in the middle was a bright golden sun, like a spotlight blinding you. I tried to take pictures, but it was like photographing the moon; only a bright ball showed up in a rather dark photo. It wasn't dark, but the ball of fire made it look that way. I drove down the hill to my road, amazed at the sight. Oh, the glory of another sultry, summer day. |
| I saw a lovely picture of a park bench on a beach or bank overlooking the water. Under it was the caption, "If you had an afternoon, who would you choose, past or present, to sit on this bench with you and converse all afternoon?" I won't give my immediate response first. It might be too revealing. I assumed they meant someone famous, and not someone I with whom I already have contact. Then I thought it wouldn't be anyone political, then I realized if it had to be political, I might pick from several. Dr. Ben Carson is a person whom I admire on many levels. There's Allen West. If it had to be historical, I think Benjamin Franklin or Patrick Henry, maybe. (Patrick was indirectly in my family tree. His father's sister is in my direct line.) Or Christopher Newport, traveler by sea. Or Borden who invented canned milk because a child died from bad milk on a voyage from England to America in the 1800's. He'd be fun to discuss food trends and the history of food preservation. But then Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone would make fascinating story tellers. They were both family men, explorers, pioneers, statesmen, and soldiers. Johnny Appleseed would make a pleasant afternoon in the breeze as well. Lottie Moon, missionary to China, would be pleasant company, too. She wasn't the first or the greatest missionary, but she paved the way for fund raising and support by women for work in other countries. Ruth Bell Graham would also be interesting. Or a great Indian chief. Or, Terry Bradshaw. That's over the top entertainment. As far as writers go, Edgar Allen Poe, Flannery O'Connor, Harper Lee, Shakespeare, Stephen Crane, Jack London, Owen Wister, would all do, one at a time. Singers, I'd like Ella Fitzgerald, or Bing Crosby, Robert Goulet, John Hartford, Jim Croce, or Eric Church, as long as he or she would sing one or two songs for me, a capella. As far as movie stars go, for some reason I picked older ones. Maybe I've seen more of their work. Or maybe they're past the arrogant stage. But Clint Eastwood or Clu Gulager would be good company. Both are professional and polite, though opposites of each other. One is a family man with solid values and one is a playboy. One swears like a sailor and the other is politically incorrect. But both have had very different experiences on TV and the big screen. Both are talented and very smart. Oh, don't forget handsome. If I couldn't get either one, I'd ask for Ed Asner or William Shatner. See--older actors--but bigger than life and entertaining. I'm not good at making decisions. I'd want more than one afternoon. Wouldn't that be educational? And memorable. You'd hang on every word, and you'd listen to the person you chose like it was the most vital afternoon in the world. I guess we should make afternoons like that with people we do know. |
| I'd like to study Western folklore, as in American Wild West and balance it with actual history. The West kept changing its Eastern boundary. At one time, everything west of the Blue Ridge Mountains was The West. Illinois became The West for a while. When I researched my family tree, some of my ancestors left to "Go West" and settled in Illinois, some in Tennessee. As the 1800's rolled on, more pioneers settled in the area we wouldn't dare call The West today. It was a rough way to live. Different dreams and schemes collided. We stopped having cattle drives once the railroads were easily available.The period of cowboys and round-ups was relatively short. The westerns we see on TV reruns and movies picture a very short time in our history. Sometimes the facts and the time-lines in these fictional pieces are all mixed up. I won't find a course like that in my state, where that kind of stuff is just fluff. It really isn't. I imagine there are some historians in Western colleges who offer some on-line courses. I just haven't found them yet. I'd like to see how statehood, history of all areas, and cowboys, trappers, farmers, and so forth all fit together. This is on my long-term to do list. And if a chart isn't readily available, I want to make one. For instance, in 1880, Wyoming did this, Texas did this, Washington DC did this, New York City, San Francisco, etc., for style, food, history, inventions. And to keep it in perspective, point out other world events, like Bhutan, England, France, World Fairs. I guess it would have to start with Lewis and Clark. |
| Today I learned a few things. I never knew that a church business meeting could have absentee voters. Our by-laws allow for such, but they have to be announced by the moderator: who is the absentee and who is placing their vote. I'm sure more would take advantage of this if they could. The ones doing this had family emergencies, so the issue came up at the last minute.Someone had to have advised them of the by-law. Who reads by-laws other than the people who handle personnel? I further learned that not knowing how parliamentary procedure works can hurt your stand. As far as I'm concerned the unusual matter at hand was handled the way I wanted. But we won my a simple 2/3 majority, which means there will be hurt feelings and grudges. The motion in question could have been amended, but the folks who wanted that didn't know how to do it, and didn't ask until the last minute. We always have a town hall meeting before an official meeting, unless it's a special "called" meeting. That gives us time to ask questions and argue out some things in advance and keep the official meetings shorter. It also gives us time to research the questions that come up. At this town hall meeting, the moderator told us what the procedure would be. The motion would be presented by committee, then reread by the moderator, then the floor would open for discussion. No one could speak a second time until everyone who wanted to speak had a first opportunity. We could table it, which could be a 3 month delay on an immediate issue, send it back to committee with specific instructions, or make amendments. If you make an amendment, you call for a vote to accept the amendment. If it passes, then you vote on the amended motion. If it fails, then the original motion is back on the floor. What he didn't say that night is that if the motion is voted on as is, and fails, then a new motion could be made by anyone over the age 16 who is qualified to vote. Today we actually found ourselves in the vote, ballots passed out for secrecy, before someone asked, "What if this doesn't pass?" I knew the answer, but some others didn't. The ones who wanted to make an amendment suddenly realized they had missed their chance. They began to hope it would fail. That was unfortunate. I knew something was wrong because I expected more trouble. But it went so quietly and smoothly into that vote before a wave of horror went through the place. The next time I will know, as clerk, to remind the moderator to go through the procedural possibilities before we start. I know it is incumbent upon the people who want to resist a motion or action to find out in advance what they must do. But this is not Congress. We want to be fair and open-minded, and allow our opposition the opportunity to state their case and have their chance. I would have accepted the amendment if my way had lost. That's the way majority rule works. We still have a unity when it's all said and done. But we want to be fair and just in the process. |
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