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  My blog was filled up. I'm too lazy to clean it out. So I started a new one. |
| Most visitors to my area want to see Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. It's kind of on the pricey side and is a big, commercial style deal. When I was a younger adult, you could enter the driveway on the side of the highway where the house is. You'd drive uphill through the woods and park in a lot just below the house. Now you enter on the opposite side and ride a shuttle up to the house. It's a big money making operation now, but the fundamentals are the same. The house is preserved according to what they believe it was in his lifetime. (If you read about its history, you'll know the mansion fell into hard times and was used as a barn by one owner.) You'll see the genius of his creations and inventions, and learn of his agricultural skills. Just down the mountain, you'll find Michie Tavern, an authentic inn of the time period. It has a water wheel, and is placed on a dangerous curve in the mountain road. Just before the tavern, you find a steep road going up to a well-known operational orchard with lots to see and do. Have lunch at Michie Tavern, above the museum. It's new, but serves southern cooking, like Grandma used to make. They feature fried and baked chicken, barbecue, black-eye peas, stewed tomatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits, cornbread, coleslaw, etc., from the buffet line. Apple or peach cobbler is extra, but very tasty. The wait staff dress colonial style, and your iced tea or soda is served in metal cups. Jefferson would get his ice from the Rivanna River below. (The slaves would get large chunks in the winter, haul it by mule up to his ice house and store it in the shaded building with a carved out floor. It would last until summer time and kept the butter and milk cold.) If you drive a little further down the winding road, the mountain levels off a bit, and you come to Ash Lawn, the home of another president. At this one, you'll learn more about excavation, and historic preservation. Live peacocks display their colors on the grounds. Only minutes away, our downtown end of Main Street was turned into an outdoor mall decades ago. I have memories of parking on Main Street in front of businesses, but that is only a memory now. Downtown parking is its biggest shortcoming. Once there, most people find it very charming. There is a pavilion at one end, where concerts are held in the open air. In the summer, we have Fridays after Five, for free, featuring live music. Many cafes are out in the open, some all year round. Many street vendors flaunt their wares. My favorite reason to still go there is The Paramount Theater. It closed for ten years, but was refurbished and opened ten years ago as a vehicle for many kinds of performances. The Paramount is still a grand, elegant movie theater, with Baroque styling and wall paper. The top floor, which once was offices, is now reserved for balls and banquets. Operas from the Met and broadcasts of live plays are shown there. Concerts are always sold out. Ronnie Milsap and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band are two acts coming soon. I have seen Bob Newhart, Kris Kristofferson, Gordon Lightfoot, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Michael McDonald there, not to mention swing bands and orchestras. It's fun to see a Christmas movie, available on TV now, on the big screen with a full audience that loves old movies like I do. Except for a manager and some grant writers, it is staffed by volunteers. There are many more attractions from which to choose. I obviously am proud of it. |
| I watched the parade in DC on TV. I loved it. It wasn't big and flashy like Macy's or the Rose parades. It was any town, every day people parading their patriotism. It was unique in that there were so many different people backgrounds. A group of Sikhs marched in their garb, Vietnamese Americans had a large group in a graceful presentation, and an African group paraded. Only in DC would so many diverse groups be found in such large numbers. It was great to see them parading their pride in America. I didn't see any politicians or political messages. It was a hot muggy day. Overweight people walked alongside the bands pulling wagons of water bottles. Some folks, presumably parents, weaved in and out of the heavy uniforms and big hats tending to the kids in the burning sun. It really had that hometown, homespun feel to it. Our usual family gathering fizzled out. My brother passed away a few months ago, and he always ran the fireworks and got everyone together. I think his daughters needed a change of pace, so they made other plans for their kids. My younger brother in another town just got back from California and is going to New York later this month, both trips for his wife's family events. His young son is in day camp this week, so they stayed home to chill. Dad and I had already purchased a lot of food, but decided we would just have al low key day to ourselves and watch fireworks on TV late tonight. But in between her other plans for the day, my widowed niece showed up with her 3 young children. They were hungry, so I had to dig hot dogs out of the freezer and proceed with the original menu really fast. We had hot dogs, baked beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, potato chips, and ice cream cones. We didn't fix the corn on the cob because of time. I had the makings for s'mores and sparklers, but they were for after dark. They're already gone to their next stop. I've washed all the dishes and swept the floors. So we didn't do any yard work, but we had our indoor picnic. I am sorry about the earthquake in California, but am glad no one is hurt so far. I hope nothing more severe happens in the next few days, which is possible with any earthquake. I think the fire in a fireworks store in North Carolina is suspicious, especially today of all days. I wish that more people living in America knew more about its history. Too many celebrities speak and act on feelings rather than knowledge and serious deliberation. In fact, I've often thought anyone running for public office should be required to enroll in civic, government and history classes. A college education does not guarantee a well rounded education. A few ethics classes wouldn't be a bad idea, even for career politicians. I hope everyone has a safe and happy independence Day. It truly is a great country. We need to recall once again the words of JFK: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." |
| Do you make your bed in the morning or leave it unmade? What do you think this says about you? } As old as I am, I still struggle with this one daily. I don't have a showcase home. I would never take anyone through my house to "show" it, because it's functional, not decorated. So no one will ever see my bed, but me. When I was married, I did make the bed every day, so that I could not have to come home to a messy bed. He was very messy, so I didn't want the room to be any worse than it had to be. In fact, whenever I shared an apartment with a roommate, or a dorm room, I always made my bed immediately on getting up. I always make my bed when staying with a relative or friend. It's when I'm the only one to see it, that I am reluctant to take the time. I suppose I feel responsible to other people. I usually wake up very slowly. I hit the snooze alarm several times, so I have to set it about 20 minutes earlier than I need to be up. Getting my eyes to stay open and getting my feet onto the floor is my first chore of the day. I straighten the covers over the bed before I even get up, to make it go faster. Once, I'm on my feet, it's tempting to go about my business of getting ready instead of turning around and fixing the bed. If the pillows are in place and the bottom half is smooth, does it really matter, if the top is neatly tucked and flattened? No one will know but me. I argue with myself that it doesn't matter if the blanket is heaped up or the pillow is on the side, I'll fix it at bed time tonight! But there's this nagging voice in my head that says, "You need to be orderly and organized! Do this right, and do it now, or you'll be sloppy all day long!" So how did this neat freak get into my head? It must be in control right now, because I'm going through a neat phase. The bed is made every day, the counters are washed every day in the kitchen (not just when needed), etc. I'm certain the lackadaisical me will come back unless I undergo a major personality change. For decades, I had a refrigerator magnet that read, "Only dull women have immaculate homes". Obviously, I was never a dull woman! |
| I was born on D-Day, so I've always recalled it and many stories about it. It was a great day in history (not my year, but in 1944), Never before had so many countries worked together to accomplish a common goal, and never since. It was a great masterwork of military minds, diplomats, and passionate statesmen. I learned early on that my birth flower was the rose, and the gemstone was a pearl. I've always loved the aroma of roses. Long ago, you could find perfumes that smelled like roses. Potpourri sometimes had rose petals. Once I even found a line of candles that smelled of roses. They must be out of favor, because I can't find any rose fragrances now. And I don't think I should buy roses for myself. I've tried growing them without much luck. As for pearls, I have a few necklaces of various kinds of pearls and arrangements. My ears are allergic to even gold, so no earrings. When I was sixteen I went shopping with my grandmother for a birthday present. We went to the jewelry store where I discovered that in the affordable birthstone line, June was listed as alexandrite. So I wound up with a ten carat gold ring with a nice purple stone. I still have it, and although my knuckles are larger, I can still wear it. When I got home, my mother told me how tight my grandmother's budget was and that this was a genuine sacrifice for her. I now have some rings that cost more, but this one will always be precious to me. I don't know much about moonstone. That's a June stone on some lists. Honeysuckle is also listed as the birth flower. It's a sweet flower that grows wild. It is sometimes blended with other flowers for perfumes. If you ever picked a blossom and sucked it, you know why the cows like to eat it. Pluck a blossom, tear off the stem tip, and suck. You only get a drop, but it's like sugar water. The cow eats all she can find to munch. Every kid should try for herself to see why the birds and the bees like it. Prompt: use pearl, rose, honeysuckle, alexandrite, and moonstone in a blog. It's my month, so it seemed like my assignment. |
| I wrote about the voodoo plant. I pulled 75 plants and left them out to dry before discarding. It rained on them, so the day before trash collection, I went out to pick them up and bag them. With only the dirt clinging to the bulbs, they were standing straight up in the sun on the slate patio. They obviously don't need much to grow and prosper. I dug them out of moist, well worked soil. They were in Heaven, I guess. I dug an additional ten that day, small ones that I had either missed or that had sprung up in the days that had lapsed. Yesterday, I dug about 15 more, believing I had them all. Today, I dug up another 26. They really sprout up overnight. This is why I wanted to get rid of all of them, not saving even one. It looks like I will be going it all summer. I've even dug up a few in the yard, well below the raised flower bed. If I'm up to it, I may have to dig up the entire flower bed this fall, after all the blooming and growing is done. I will pick out the hostas and lilies, and discard everything else, putting down new top soil and replanting the good things. Meanwhile, there are lots of children in my family, and they are also growing. My brother passed away in February, so now they are coming to visit Great Grandpa more often. It gives their mothers more of a sense of family without Pop Pop to spoil the kids. I love them all, but the three year olds are making the most noticeable growth right now. I convinced one niece to take her three children to Farm Day in the same county where she lives. It was early May, and I was afraid Great Grandpa was going to have a heat stroke, even if he loved looking at antique farm equipment, and huge commercial farm machines. When we went inside a hot, but shaded building, the three year old boy got very excited about a set-up to shell corn. He took one look with the dried up cobs and corn kernels in buckets and exclaimed, "This is how you make corn!" I showed him the rack where the husks were hanging to dry out, and he figured out the rest. You put the corn in the top, turn the crank and the corn gets cut off the cob. It comes down the chute, a word he didn't know until I told him; the corn gets shoved down to a big box at the bottom and the cobs tumble into the basket on the side. It was fun watching him explore and figuring it all out. I was impressed with how smart he is. At my house on Monday, now that school is out, all six kids were there. As one niece was leaving to take her daughter to a swim meet, her three year old didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay with his three year old cousin, who is about 5 inches taller and 3 months younger. The bigger one is our farm boy. The smaller one said he would stay with me and yelled "Bye, Mommy!" as she walked down the driveway to her car. I told him she was really leaving, but he didn't care. I told him she was going to the pool, so he stopped and looking at farm cousin, asked, "You want to go to the pool?" Farm boy said, "C'mon, I'll take you to your family." They ran together out to the driveway and past my car. Farm boy stopped. The little one turned around, yelling, "C'mon." My little farmer said, "I want to stay with my family." I was so impressed. They were having a good time playing outside together, They both wanted to go to the pool. But this three year old had developed the concept of family. I was so proud and so touched by him. How exciting it is to watch these little ones grow, to watch them form their conceptions about the world and how it works. They are even forming values at such a tender age. It almost makes up for the destruction and messes they make. |
| June 11, 2019 Prompt: An excessive heat warning has been issued for Las Vegas this week. We will be having triple digit temperatures. How do you keep cool in triple digit temperatures? Growing up, we had no air conditioning. We did have fans, and learned to shout above the noise of them. As kids, we like to sing or just make vocal sounds in front of the fans to hear how it changed our voices. With our small house, it was not too hard to set up cross ventilation with a fan inside the front screen door and one at the back or one in a side window at night. I remember not being able to sleep at night for the heat. We seldom get over 99 degrees, but on a few rare days each summer we will go over 100, maybe 103, with the heat index higher. Only on rare years will it last long. But we have very high humidity, even in the 70's and 80's, I've experienced 100 in April, but usually not until late May or June. We've even had some unbearably hot Halloweens and warm Thanksgivings, but those are standouts. Camping in the summer heat is just miserable, unless you're under a tree near running water. That will be a little cooler at night, but for the most part, tents are sweat machines. So, I sympathize with those who have to endure a crushing heat wave. since I first went to work at age 16, I've spent a good deal of time indoors in the summer with air conditioning. Unfortunately, some of those places wouldn't keep those places cool enough for employees who were doing physical work or wearing uniform jackets or smocks. But now I'm retired and don't worry about sweating on the job. I'm not a swimmer, so I don't spend a hot day at the pool. I burn easily, so I no longer just sweat it out at the beach. Instead, I cover myself with mosquito spray and sit in the shade, preferably with a breeze. A tall glass of iced tea ( a thermal cup keeps the ice a long time) helps me pamper myself. When we're in a long hot spell, I'd like to keep the house super cool, but than we worry about a big electric bill from non-stop running of the AC. We also use several dehumidifiers, which have to be emptied 2 or 3 times a day. They don't cool, but they take that stickiness out of the air. My 91 year old father will sit in the garage, door up, revealing to all the passersby that he is a hoarder. He sits in the shade with a fan blowing in his direction, enjoying the fresh air while he snoozes. Parades and fairs and other outdoor events are another story. You just have to bite the bullet and sweat. I see a lot of kids at those things who should have on sunscreen. I hate seeing a three year old or younger with a sunburn. You have to plan in advance. I wore sandals to a parade in April once, and the tops of feet were sunburned! I visited Atlanta in June, and walked around with my toes covered. The tops of feet were burned once again. Hats make your head sweat, and I don't look good in them, but I'm learning a UV treated hat is helpful. Always wear sunglasses even if your nose and temples sweat from touching the frames. Old people, like my dad, and people with breathing problems need frequent breaks in the shade. Take water bottles for everyone in your crowd. If you really want to keep cool, and want to be outside, you just have to act like you're afraid of sunshine. Then make up your mind that it's okay to sweat profusely, that the makeup with the SPF protects your face even if it's melting and making you look funny, that nobody looks good in extreme heat so don't worry about it. Giving up stress and worry is one way of staying cool.   |
| Growing up, we had no air conditioning. We did have fans, and learned to shout above the noise of them. As kids, we like to sing or just make vocal sounds in front of the fans to hear how it changed our voices. With our small house, it was not too hard to set up cross ventilation with a fan front of one screen door in the front and one in the back or one in a side window at night. I remember not being able to sleep at night for the heat. We seldom get over 99 degrees, but on rare a few days each summer will go over 100, maybe 103, with the heat index higher. Only on rare years will it last long. But we have very high humidity, even in the 70's and 80's, I've experienced 100 in April, but usually not until late May or June. We've even had some unbearably hot Halloweens and warm Thanksgivings, but those are standouts. So, I sympathize with those who have to endure a crushing heat wave. since I first went to work at age 16, I've spent a good deal of time indoors in the summer with air conditioning. Unfortunately, some of those places wouldn't keep those places cool enough for employees who were doing physical work or wearing uniform jackets or smocks. But now I'm retired and don't worry about sweating on the job. I'm not a swimmer, so I don't spend a hot day at the pool. I burn easily, so I no longer just sweat it out at the beach. Instead, I cover myself with mosquito spray and sit in the shade, preferably with a breeze. A tall glass of iced tea ( a thermal cup keeps the ice a long time) helps me pamper myself. When we're in a long hot spell, I'd like to keep the house super cool, but than we worry about a big electric bill from non-stop running of the AC. We also use several dehumidifiers, which have to be emptied 2 or 3 times a day. They don't cool, but they take that stickiness out of the air. My 91 year old father will sit in the garage, door up, revealing to all the passsersby that he is a hoarder. He sits in the shade with a fan blowing in his direction, enjoying the fresh air while he snoozes. Parades and fairs and other outdoor events are another story. You just have to bite the bullet and sweat. I see a lot of kids at those things who should have on sunscreen. I hate seeing a three year old or younger with a sunburn. You have to plan in advance. I wore sandals to a parade in April once, and the tops of feet were sunburned! I visited Atlanta in June, and walked around with my toes covered. The tops of feet were burned once again. Hats make your head sweat, and I don't look good in them, but I'm learning a UV treated hat is helpful. Always wear sunglasses even if your nose and temples sweat from touching the frames. Old people, like my dad, and people with breathing problems need frequent breaks in the shade. Take water bottles for everyone in your crowd. If you really want to keep cool, and want to be outside, you just have to act like you're afraid of sunshine. Then make up your mind that it's okay to sweat profusely, that the makeup with the SPF protects your face even if it's melting and making you look funny, that nobody looks good in extreme heat so don't worry about it. Giving up stress and worry is one way of staying cool. |
| Don't be lured by the exotic look of its mature leaves and dark stem. Do Not Plant This In The Ground! It takes over. It grows from a bulb, but spreads like wildfire. It grows a foot away from the main bulb. I suspect that if you don't dig up and dispose of every single little piece of it, that it will get mixed in with your mulch and start over in a new spot. I have dug and dug, sometimes, rather deeply, trying to uproot the whole plant. At first I thought I might leave one or two for looks. But after a few days, I realized it was all mixed in with the hostas my dad had so neatly lined up. I went back a second day with heavier tools and really turned over the dirt. I had to hold up the hosta leaves and claw up young plants that have only sprung up in the last few days. Today, I went out to admire my work, and I found even more dreaded voodoo plants. They seem to be like bamboo, which looks nice when newly grown, but in no time you have a bamboo jungle and need a machete to get through. You can't just leave some of it. You have to get rid of all of it. So you have to get rid of all the voodoo plant. What started with one plant, one year, and some selected digging each year after, resulted in a big pile of voodoo bulbs on my patio. I'm letting them dry out, but plan to put them in a trash bag and dispose of before my dad tries to compost them. Who knows how that would turn out? Just don't put it in your garden. If you love the name or the look of it, just put one bulb in a deep pot. When it expands, dig it out on newspaper, throw away all but one bulb ( or burn it), and return one bulb only to your pot. It's a curse to your flowerbeds. |
| Oh, the wonders of nature's bounty! There's nothing like locally grown strawberries. Although, I do recall delectable strawberries purchased in the Everglades one January long ago. I swore those were the best I'd ever had, and they may have been. The strawberries I grow in pots on my back porch are small and not so tasty. I have to be vigilant to get them before the birds find them. I also love local tomatoes. They're so much better than those shipped from another state or country or raised in a greenhouse. And with those local tomatoes in abundance, you can make salsa to your liking or many salads. When I was growing up, my parents had their own garden and we ate tomatoes at every meal. Mom canned them with no air-conditioning. I washed the jars and boiled them and the lids before she assembled the goods. Then they had to be hot packed or put in a huge pressure cooker. Dad gave it away without consulting with any of us kids. The hand crank strainer for making juice and the giant funnel, he gave away, too. They cost a lot new. even after I left home, I didn't know how to make chili or spaghetti without Mom's quarts of tomatoes. Those metal cans just come in second, way behind. We had many other goodies that we took for granted and thought were blah. Now we're all middle-aged and pine for the good ol' days and Mom's veggies. Greens that cooked down from a bushel to a pint, green beans, yellow squash, cucumbers, etc. I don't want the cukes, but I appreciated her attempt at sauerkraut. My brother still hates the thought of pickled beats, but I loved them cut up in navy beans or other beans. They added color and flavor. Now they're a super food. I remember picking tomatoes in the summer heat, the leaves making my arms itch. I also recall hanging clothes on the line when I was home from college. The noise made me look around. The corn husks were rubbing together in the breeze making a music of its own. The sheets flapped in that same breeze, smoothing their wrinkles. None of us have a garden now, except for the patio pots and my herbs. I do have some blackberry bushes. They remind me of all the times we had to stop the car to pick wild blackberries, my dad's favorite. I love them better now than I did back then. We recall the hard work we all had to do to get those vegetables. The supermarket may have a lot of variety, but they just aren't as good. Or as healthy. Now the TV doctors tell us the pesticides are in everything we buy, even organic veggies. It's in the rain and comes down on everything. Still, fresh is better than canned or frozen, even with the carcinogens. |
| The Voice has ended another season. It was disappointing in the end, and I feel like I wasted my time. The ones I liked the best were eliminated earlier, and some I didn't like at all made it to the final four. All the coaches and others predicted the actual winner weeks before, and we were told her song was streamed most often. It was an expected ending; no thrill of anticipation was left. Even the runner-up was one I would have eliminated several rounds before. My favorite performances of the evening were the Jonas Brothers, Toby Keith, Travis Tritt, and Taylor Swift. Keith and Tritt sang with contestants. I love Sarah McLaughlin, but her duo with the winner, Mae Lynn, only served to make Mae Lynn's voice seem coarse and second-rate. That was a bad pairing. And while some of the performers got a little classier and more stage worthy with costumes and make-up, Mae Lynn turned sort of slutty. Even the film of them not singing showed her in low cut revealing underwear that was too tight around her midsection. There was one exception; one night she wore a spectacular red evening dress that fit her very well and looked very classy. Taylor Swift's pink dress was very cute. I like watching the coaches and their relationships the best. I have learned to like Adam and Blake after all these years. I became a Shakira fan as a result of The Voice, not to mention Usher. I am a big Kelly Clarkson fan now. She's got a lot of personality and character. I will continue to watch because of that, and seeing new people being coached. But I won't be as intent or devoted as in the past. Part of the reason may be the way they revamped the show this past season. Some of it is because people my age don't use Twitter or stream music as much as the younger generation. So the final choices are not the general public's, but just the choice of the media savvy younger generations. |
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