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A woman tells her doctor, ‘I’ve got a bad back.’ The doctor says, ‘It’s old age.’ The woman says, ‘I want a second opinion.’ The doctor says: ‘Okay – you’re ugly as well.’

July 1, 2014

I made it! What took so long was I ran into people I hadn’t seen in years and it takes a while to catch up on years. When I realized how late it was, I added an errand: lunch. I went to a new place with Greek take-out, and I did, a gyros and Greek iced coffee. When I got home and walked into my house, I was hit with a blast of hot air and humidity. I quickly closed all the windows and turned on the air-conditioning. It is 79˚ outside, sweat weather, and when you add humidity, you have intolerable weather. My back almost made it. Adding the extra errand did me in. I will now do nothing more today except loll in the cool house and drink iced coffee. All I’m missing are bon-bons.

Last night Gracie was panting so much she shook the bed. I swear I was getting sea sick. It felt like being on a boat in rough seas because the mattress was going up and down and up and down over and over. I kept the air-conditioner in my bedroom window for times such as those so I turned it on and Gracie finally stopped panting and went to sleep. Right now she is enjoying the cool house and is sleeping on the couch. When I finish here, I think I’ll join her.

The birds this morning were amazing. The male Baltimore oriole was perched on a tall yellow flower and was eating its seeds. He flew off and came back a couple of times. The Mrs. was having grape jelly. There were so many chickadees I lost count, and I do think there was some spooning as a few birds were feeding other birds and they flew off together for a bit of privacy I suspect. I watched gold finches, titmice, nuthatches and a couple of cat birds.

Don’t forget the USA plays Belgium at 4:00. For those of you stuck at work I found a helpful page entitled How to Watch the US vs. Belgium Match at the office:

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/2014-fifa-world-cup-watch-usa-belgium-work/story?id=24303525

I hope you’ll excuse the short post today.

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“I know they’re gonna talk about me in my absence. If its bad, am gonna hear it through grapevine.”

July 1, 2014

I promise I will be back which is actually ironic because my back is so bad today. Because I just took something for it, I need to hurry and do my errands while I can. There are only three errands so I should be back anon.

My Ghanaian students would have said, “I went to your house and met your absence.” Please do return as I’d hate to miss your visit. Any requests for music today? I toss that out as a bit of an apology.

See you, sort of, in a bit.

 

Categories: Musings

Comments: 15 Comments

“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”

June 30, 2014

This morning I decided to haul my laptop to the deck. Usually I read the papers, drink my coffee and go back inside to write. Today, though, is so lovely I couldn’t bear to be in the house. Gracie, a creature of habit, did go back inside for her morning nap but joined me here after a while. She is now sleeping behind me in the shade of the giant scrub oak. The air is cool with a breeze strong enough to blow the pages of the paper away, but I caught them just before they went into the backyard. The birds were here earlier but have since moved on. The cheeky red spawn saw me go in and jumped onto the deck expecting to munch the seed without human intervention or the jet spray from the hose. When I came back out, it jumped onto a branch right by the deck and watched me for a while as if to dare me. In the showdown, I went for the hose. It leapt to another tree and kept going. We will both live to fight another day.

The paper was filled with choice tidbits. They have found a new deer tick borne disease which has yet to be named. I’m thinking Skip or maybe Ted. The great whites are back, and there is a three-year study to determine which of them return to the Cape every summer. I’m sure the seals would also love to know. The big front page news was about a state rep visiting his constituents before he begins his reelection campaign. He rides a Freego, the Chinese version of a Segway, to save gas. I’m thinking buying American would have been a better idea for a state rep. The article, otherwise boring, did give me a chuckle. An 81-year-old woman told him he needed exercise not a scooter. He answered like the politician he is and said we all need exercise.

This morning writing Coffee took me a long time because I was so easily distracted by everything around me, by the swish of the leaves blown by the wind, the irritated sounds of the impatient chickadees waiting their turns at the feeders, the chattering of the angry spawn, Gracie’s snoring and the sun and the flowers. I sometimes forget that no day is ordinary.

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“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.”

June 29, 2014

The day is breathtakingly beautiful. My day lilies in the front garden have started to bloom with orange flowers tilted to the sun. The deck pots are awash with flowers, and the vegetables seem to double in height each day. Birds are plentiful at the sunflower feeders, and the grape jelly needs to be refilled. It seems the orioles have found their feeders. On the deck this morning were two grey spawns, two huge grey spawns, chasing one another. I watched them jump from chair to chair then jump off the deck to scurry up trees one after the other. I think love is in the air.

My neighbors at the other end of the street had company last night. Their voices carried through the chilly night air. I felt like an eavesdropper so I shut my windows, but those voices brought back a flood of memories of summer nights when I was a kid. All the neighborhood back doors faced each other from houses at the top and bottom of a tall grassy hill. I’d lie in bed on a summer night trying to fall asleep in the heat, and I could hear the neighbors. The closest neighbors had distinct voices, whole conversations, while those from up the hill seemed more like whispers. I’d hear the clink of dishes and silverware being washed. The houses were duplexes, and their floor plans were all the same. The sinks had windows above them and they all faced the hill. Soon enough, though, as the night got older, the sounds from the kitchens faded.

One of my bedroom windows faced the living room of the duplex beside ours where my Aunt Ruby, Uncle Billy and Cousin Susan lived for a while. I used to listen to their TV. Most nights it was the last sound I’d hear before I fell asleep.

My street is busy this week. The house beside me, the rental, has people. The other usually empty houses, all second homes, have owners down for the weekend or even the week with July 4th coming Friday. Mornings and evenings are noisier than I am used to, but I’ll adjust. Besides, I’ll be making my own noises soon enough when Saturday night movies on the deck begin. I can hardly wait for the premier.

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“My last two girlfriends were named Anna, though the second one spelled her name backwards. So instead of Anna, it was spelled Anna, and that’s how I came to tell the two apart. ”

June 28, 2014

Today I was going to beg off from Coffee. I woke up with a headache, Gracie is barking at the world and I’m cold. Yup, I am also whining. The house is so cold my furnace would have gone on this morning. I even put on some socks and a sweatshirt. I really do miss my slippers, but they are gone now, gone where slippers go when they are passed their prime.

I got to thinking about names this morning. Who knows why? My brain just takes off on its own sometimes and brings me along for the ride. When I was growing up, there were, counting me, three Kathleen’s in my class and two or three Catherine’s. Mary by itself or combined with Alice or Ann was well represented. Patricia was a big one, and they were all either Pat or Patty, not a Trish among them and not one Patty with an i instead of a y. Susan, Donna and Carol rounded out many of the rest of the names of my classmates. My friend Maria was the only Maria, and there was only one Beatrice. My two best high school friends were Bobby and Jimmy. Add David, John, Michael and Tommy, and those were the names of most of the boys in my class. There was only one Henry, and he was called Henny.

It strikes me funny when nicknames are longer than the full names. Johnny is one of them and Pauly is another. I guess John is just too pedestrian. Nicknames also had to end in y, a rule of thumb back then. Think Billy, Larry, Ronny, Ricky or Joey. I knew them all. They were all in my class.

Now there are no rules for names. Make up one if you want. Name your kid after a city, maybe even the one where he or she was conceived, or after a planet or whatever strikes your fancy. If you’re a celebrity, be cutesy or even a bit strange. Think North West, Bodhi Rain and Cricket. I don’t know about you but I’d hate to be named after a bug. Hello, I’m mosquito!

My grand-nephews are Ryder, son of my nephew Ryan, and Declan, son of my niece Sarah. I have another grandnephew arriving in August and a grandniece in late July. Declan’s brother will be Jackson with the middle name George and will be called Jack a popular name in itself. Ryder’s sister will be Georgina, an uncommon name, and will be called Georgie. I like that. Both are named after my father. I like that part the most.

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“Oh, hon, it’s the little courtesies that make life bearable, I find, wouldn’t you agree?”

June 27, 2014

The house is chilly. Last night was in the 50’s, and it will be again tonight. Today will be in the 70’s. If I could invent the perfect summer day, it would be like today, warm during the day and cool at night for sleeping.

The sun is gloriously bright and the red umbrellas on the deck pop in the light. Yesterday afternoon I put out my oriole feeders and late in the afternoon the female oriole arrived and had some grape jelly, left then came back a couple of times. I hope next time she brings her mate. The male oriole is one of the prettiest birds around here. Today I have to fill my suet feeder and my squirrel buster feeder which keeps the grey spawns away but doesn’t deter the red spawns or the chipmunks, as both are too lightweight to trigger the feeder so I now have my own way of getting rid of them. I keep my hose on the deck, put the nozzle on jet and spray them. They run really fast when the water hits them.

Some things just drive me crazy. I’ll start with people who don’t use their blinkers and people who leave their blinkers on the whole time. When the non-blinker turns onto the street where I had been waiting, I throw my arms up in frustration. Why did the driver think I was sitting there? Is there a parade coming? The constant click click click of the blinker should be a hint, but it isn’t. The car passes street after street and doesn’t turn and the blinker blinks. People who park and take up one and half spaces, especially this time of year, make me want to leave a nasty note on the windshield. Drivers ignoring one way signs is another pet peeve of mine. The place where I shop has a one way in and a one way out. Many drivers decide they are only going one way, the arrows notwithstanding. I got yelled at the other day for being in the middle of the road. The car with the yelling driver was going the wrong way. I rolled down my window and told the guy the street was one way, not his one way but mine. He still yelled.

It is usually quite difficult to merge across two lanes on busy streets here during the summer. A car can sit for a long while hoping for a break in traffic. A lot of cars don’t stop to let the waiting car out. I don’t get it. Would that minute it takes to let the car out cause them to miss a plane, a wedding or some other huge event? When a driver lets me out, I always wave and say thank you acknowledging their kindness. I let cars out often. Many wave and many ignore me. The other day I let a woman out into heavy traffic which would have kept her waiting a while. She didn’t acknowledge me. I said you’re welcome out my window. She heard me and gave me a look which could wither flowers. I didn’t get it. Being courteous is simple and doesn’t take a whole lot of effort. I smiled at her and drove away.

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“Not all those who wander are lost.”

June 26, 2014

Today is the day: USA versus Germany. The game starts at noon, my time. Extended lunches are the order of the day. Lots of sickness going around as well. I think it is the 24 hour flu.

It was raining when I woke up early this morning. Gracie went out, did what she needed to then ran right back inside. The paper wasn’t here yet. I was reading my e-mail when I heard the thump of the paper hitting the driveway. Just then the heavens opened, and it poured. The rain seemed to be coming straight down in torrents. Gracie and I watched from the front door. Rain mesmerizes both of us.

Summer and screen doors go together. When I was young, doors didn’t shut slowly. They slammed. Every time one of us went out, the door slammed behind us. My mother always yelled, “Don’t slam the door.” If I had known the word delusional back then, I would have used it to describe her and the other mothers because all over the neighborhood you could hear mothers yelling and doors slamming.

Summer rain never kept us inside the house. Getting wet was no big deal. My mother didn’t care. She was just happy to be rid of us. We’d walk in the woods where the trees were so filled with leaves we never got too wet. Other times we’d ride our bikes, but riding bikes on a rainy day meant taking care as sand along the side of the road was slippery and would sometimes cause us to skid and fall. Other times we’d skid on purpose to leave tire tracks behind us. The longest tracks won.

I got lost twice as a kid. The first time I didn’t realize I was lost. I just thought I was exploring with my brother. My family had just moved into a new house, and my brother and I decided to check out the neighborhood. We went through the field below our house, kept walking into the woods and came out on a street just beyond where the woods ended. We kept walking. We found a stream behind some houses and stayed a while to float leaves. When we walked back to the main street, a police car stopped, asked our names then had us get in and they took us home. Our parents had gotten scared and called the police.  We didn’t know where we were or where our house was, but we didn’t care. It was the adventure which was fun. I was five and my brother was four.

The second time I got lost was at the drive-in. I was in my pajamas and robe. When I needed to go to the bathroom, I went alone. I assured my parents I’d be fine. I found the bathroom but couldn’t find the car. I roamed up and down the aisles and finally went to the refreshment stand. They called over the car speakers for the parents of Kathleen Ryan to come, and my father did. I was about six or seven.

I have the most amazing sense of direction. I never get lost even when I’ve somewhere I haven’t been before. I just somehow find my way. I don’t go to the drive-in any more.

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“And falling’s just another way to fly.”

June 24, 2014

I have come outside to the deck hoping the malaise which has descended will disappear in the glory of the morning. I have to admit that first sentence does make me chuckle. I sound like a Victorian woman swooning on the chaise holding a handkerchief infused with lavender. Even Gracie too seems not herself. She followed me to the deck then went back inside to her crate. She doesn’t usually ever leave me.

Yesterday I fell twice. Nothing serious, a few scrapes. The first was due to inattention. I was talking and walking, luckily I hadn’t added gum to the mix, when I tripped over one of those parking blocks. My elbow and knee got it that time. The second was going up the deck stairs. My flip-flop turned and I tripped on it. I was two steps from the top, which almost sounds like a song title. Anyway, I went down on the deck and this time it was my hand and elbow. Today my knee and shoulder hurt. I have no idea why the shoulder hurts.

It was a chilly night. I don’t think my feet ever got warm. I burrowed as did Gracie and Fern. I should have gotten up and gone downstairs for the afghan, but I didn’t want to leave the bed and my luck during the day with stairs hadn’t been all that good so I chose chilly to wounded and bleeding.

Yesterday was a productive day so today won’t be though I might change my bed and maybe do some laundry. I’m not leaving the house. Errands are for tomorrow.

When she was little, my youngest sister always had the grossest big toes. She stubbed them too many times to count. My mother would put on band-aids but they never lasted. Toes and band aids don’t seem to do well together. Sneakers would have solved the problem but she never wore them. I remember white strapped sandals with open toes, gross open toes.

My other sister broke her leg by getting it caught in the spokes of her tricycle which went down the hill leg and all. She also almost lost her finger when one of those fold-up stools folded on her hand.

Given their childhood injuries, you’d think their adulthoods would be rife with broken bones, but nope, I’m the one who falls, who breaks a few bones or scrapes protruding parts of my body. I guess I should have been more prone to injury as a kid so I could have skipped it as an adult. Falling is now run of the mill for me.

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“Life is about the adventures you take and the memories you make. So travel often and live life with open eyes and an open heart.”

June 23, 2014

The last few days have been gifts. The days are warm and lovely while the nights are cool for sleeping. Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time on the deck. Gracie was on the lounge all stretched out and napping. She does know how to enjoy herself. On the sports front yesterday was also a good day. The US tied Portugal at the World Cup though I really thought they’d be able to hold on to their lead, but I’ll take the tie. It was a great game. The Sox won it in the top of the tenth against Oakland when Ortiz hit a home run. He hadn’t had a hit the whole game so his timing was impeccable.

I went to the dump yesterday and wondered if they were giving something away. I hadn’t ever seen such traffic before. I even had to wait in line just to get in. Usually I go on Thursday or Friday, but I didn’t this week, a mistake I won’t make again.

When I was a teacher and didn’t work summers, I went traveling, mostly to Europe. I was gone a month or more and once, for my South American trip, I was gone the whole summer. Those were the days of backpacking and staying in hostels, university housing and even in the woods a couple of times. I traveled by bus or train and slept many times in my seat on the train and slept all night on the bus all the way to Edinburgh. Seldom did I eat in a restaurant. My travel companion and I would buy peanut butter and jelly or cheeses and cold cuts and loaves of wonderful bread and every meal was a picnic, but we’d sometimes treat ourselves and buy roasted chicken and some tomatoes for an elegant on the road meal. If we did stay in a B&B, breakfast would hold us until dinner time. We had to make sure our money lasted. I’d buy a couple of souvenirs and always sent a postcard to my parents from every country. I did that any time I traveled including through South American and when I was in the Peace Corps. The African stamps were the best, bright and colorful.

My backpacking days ended when I became an administrator and had to work summers. I’d only go to Europe for spring or winter vacation: one week and one country. I’d pack a suitcase and travel by rental car. It was like saying good-bye to the free-wheeling, go anywhere me and hello to an adult traveler.

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“Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly.”

June 22, 2014

We have been blessed with perfect days and nights. The sun is warm during the day and the nights are cool for sleeping. The other night even got downright cold so I put an afghan on my bed. Fern slept on my hip which I hate, but as I’m asleep, I don’t notice. Gracie pawed the afghan to her side of the bed, turned several times counter-clockwise then curled up and slept on the afghan. I was cold.

Today I have a few errands then tonight it is the US versus Portugal. All of a sudden I am a soccer fan even though I don’t really know all that much about soccer, but I can surely cheer loudly when the US scores and groan just as loudly when their opponent do. Go USA!!

Growing up near Boston meant cheering for the Red Sox, whom you didn’t expect to win, and for the Celtics who always won. I don’t remember watching the Sox on TV, but I either watched or listened to the Celtics’ games. The CYO often sponsored trips to the Garden but not to Fenway. I went there by bus and the T, the subway system. Tickets were cheap and easy to come by day of game. The stands were never filled. I sat near the dugout several times. I knew the whole team by name and position. Even back then I was a baseball fan for a team that didn’t win a whole lot, but it was my team and that made all the difference. I don’t go to many games any more, once a year if I’m lucky. The seats are far too expensive, even the bleachers aren’t cheap, and when I add food, a Fenway frank is a must, we’re talking really big bucks; instead, I watch the Sox in the comfort of my house with the bathroom close and food of all sorts in the kitchen for the taking. It’s not as exciting as sitting in the ballpark, but it is a whole lot cheaper.

Every Sunday I call my sister in Colorado. I took a break here and went on the deck to talk to her. I was in the sun first as the shade was chilly. All too soon the sun shifted, and the deck got too hot for my feet so I moved to the shade. It was a sort of summer musical chairs.

I loved the deck this morning. The flowers in the clay pots on the rail are beautiful, and the birds were in and out at the feeders. The herbs in the boxes smell great and I rubbed my hand up the rosemary plant as that has the best smell of all. I can’t think of anything in summer not to like, even the rain.

 

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