Archive for February 2011
“Family is just accident…. They don’t mean to get on your nerves. They don’t even mean to be your family, they just are.”
February 5, 2011I have no excuse for the lateness of the hour. Today is just one of those low energy days that happen every now and then. I have a list of the errands I had hoped to accomplish, but I’ve decided I don’t want to do them today so I’ve most over to tomorrow and a couple to Monday. I will fill the bird feeders, and I have a wash going. That’s about as accomplished as I’ll be.
It’s another gray day, and I’ve lost count of how many we’ve had. Yesterday’s sun now seems a tease from old Mother Nature. I find it difficult to believe it is only the beginning of February. This winter has been so long it should at least be the middle of March.
I have two pairs of saddle shoes, and I have decided to wear them once the sidewalks and streets are cleared of snow. I bought the first pair years ago and forgot about them until after I had bought the second pair for a 50’s party. Being 63 gives me all sorts of privileges including eccentricity, and I suspect that will be people’s reactions to my saddle shoes. Perhaps I’ll even wear stripes and plaids though that may be taking it too far, even for me.
The very young and the old are allowed to do so much more without criticism. People figure the young don’t know any better yet and the old are past caring or may even be forgetful. I am neither but I’m willing to take advantage.
My grandmother walked everywhere. She went grocery shopping and pulled a wire basket behind her to carry her groceries home. She always wore a dress and those clunky heeled shoes. Once a week or maybe every other week, she went to the hairdresser. My grandmother never learned to drive, and I don’t think it mattered. She had a really loud, annoying laugh and punctuated her conversations with it. I never noticed that laugh until I was older then it drove me crazy. My father visited her often and tried to drag one of us along with him, but we never wanted to go. She wasn’t a warm grandmother, but she did write to me when I was in the Peace Corps and always put a dollar bill in those air letters which said they should not contain any enclosures. A dollar bill doesn’t sound like much, but in Africa in those days it bought a lot. When my grandmother was in her late 80’s, she forgot most things, even my father, her son. At Christmas I’d sit with her in my parents’ living room when she came to dinner. We all took turns sitting with her and keeping her company. She’d chat and ask a lot of questions, some several times, but we’d answer her every time. I think it was then she was the warmest she’d ever been.
My Old Kentucky Home: Cathy Fink
February 4, 2011These Hills: Iris Dement
February 4, 2011From 1992’s Infamous Angel
“Families are about love overcoming emotional torture.”
February 4, 2011The sun is shining. It has been gone a long while. I missed it.
In my town, this time of year, there wasn’t a whole lot of stuff to do so winters found us inside far more than we liked. The theater had one matinee on Saturday, and it was usually filled though the balcony remained empty by choice of the owner: too many opportunities for flying candy missiles. The bowling alley was another choice, but that was really expensive to a kid on a 50 cent allowance. You had to rent shoes then pay for alley time. Begging for a bit more money from my mother sometimes helped. It was candlepin bowling. You know, those little balls, because that’s what every bowling alley around here had. I was never a very good bowler. Beyond those, there was nothing outside the house for a kid to do on freezing winter weekends when it was too cold to be out for too long. On the warmer days, though that seems an oxymoron, we could skate for free at the town rink or at the swamp.
I think we drove my mother crazy when all of us were stuck inside the house. Teasing little sisters was fun, but they always screamed to my mother who yelled some threat back to us should we continue. Most times my father was mentioned in the threat. That was enough to make us stop. My father was usually the parent we wanted to avoid when it came to punishment. He’d whack us; my mother seldom did. She was more the screamer. Later when when we were older, she’d occasionally throw things but we always ducked and ran away laughing but not so she could hear us. That would escalated the situation which, for all intents and purposes, had ended with the toss.
When we were in our teens, my father grounded us, but it never lasted for long. He’d tell us we had to miss some important event, one which we’d circled on the calender or bought new clothes for or had been planning for months. We’d cry and stomp our feet but it was all for show. We knew he’d make us stay in our rooms until close to the event then he’d come upstairs and tell us we could go, but it better not happen again.
It my mouth which got me into trouble. A quick wit is not to be used on angry parents or anyone in authority. I was a slower learner. I just couldn’t help myself. I was thrilled when I got old enough to be funny without being sent to my room.
Lovely Day: Donovan
February 3, 2011This is from the soundtrack of Brother Sun, Sister Moon.
The Flowers of Saskatchewan: David Francey
February 3, 2011
I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.
February 3, 2011It is later than I hoped, but I had to make the same trip twice but in reverse. After I left the dentist, I went and bought some biscotti and a lemon loaf cake then went to another store for Gracie food. While I was there, my spankin’ new temporary crown came loose. Home I went and called the dentist who was unavailable for fifteen minutes so I decided to have coffee and an anise biscotti. When I looked in the bag from the bakery, my lemon cake wasn’t there. The dentist called and said, “Come right over,” and I did, sort of, as I stopped and got my lemon cake. My temporary crown doesn’t move a bit. I didn’t ask what they used. I was imagining Gorilla glue.
I was driving a lot today, and I loved my ride. On the way home, the second time, I took the highway and all around me was the beauty even a winter’s day can have. I was completely surprised. My view of winter has been a small one, out the window here by the desk. On the highway it was a vista. I could see far in front of me. The sky was bright with all sorts of different grays. A snow shower with its tiny flakes was spun by the wind. The bare branches on the trees along the side of the road were silhouettes. I was driving slowly, unusual for me, as I wanted the scene to stay with me as long as possible. I still don’t like winter, and I’ve had enough snow, but today gave me a whole new appreciation of winter. In its starkness there is a beauty. Maybe that will help hold me until spring, but then again, so will the flowers I bought the other day.
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