Marie has started her blog again. She posts the most amazing music, nothing at all similar to mine but great music you might not find anywhere else. The link is to the right under Music Blogs. Click It’s All in the Grooves and go visit. I swear you’ll go back often.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ category
This Is a Public Service Announcement.
July 23, 2013Shame and Scandal in the Family: Shawn Elliott
July 21, 2013Music!!!
July 9, 2013I have to get ready for my appointment so please check back for the music!!
“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.”
July 9, 2013Today is dark with a gray sky. The humidity is high but not unbearable as there is a slight breeze, and a breeze is welcomed however small. The paper says rain with thunder and lightning. I am already looking to it. I love storms, and we do need the rain. This morning I have a doctor’s appointment for a wound check and yesterday the physical therapist signed off on me. That means I can now drive. I can be part of the world again.
All the windows and doors are opened, but I don’t hear anything, a random bird now and then but that’s all. I wonder where everyone is. This small street has kids, lots of kids: eight of them under seven years old, and I don’t even hear them. Not even a dog is barking which is also unusual. Maybe my invitation to wherever everyone has gone got lost in the mail.
It seems strange not to be traveling this summer. The last two summers I went back to Ghana, and if I had the money, I’d go again. I plan on austerity being my life style for the next year so I can save enough to go to Ghana again. Even after 40 years away, it seemed like home, and that connection is even greater after having been back a second time. Most interesting of all was meeting my former students many of whom are now retired and in their early 60’s. They refused to call me anything but madam or Ms. Ryan. I was and still am their teacher.
In the summer of 1969, I trained in Ghana to be a Peace Corps volunteer from June until early September. We had no phones, no televisions and no computers so we knew nothing of what was happening in the world. Letters from home were newsy but only about the family. One place where I stayed during training had a radio, and we listened to Voice of America and the moon landing. That was it for the entire summer. I, who used to read the paper every day, didn’t even care. None of us did. At night, we played cards and drank a few beers (I had coke-hate beer) at the local spots and the wide world never intruded. We didn’t even notice. All of us were too busy learning a new language and learning to live in a culture so different from our own.
Now I read two papers, am on my computer every day, carry my cell phone everywhere and watch news on TV. Sometimes I am very sorry I am so connected. The world at large intrudes on my life. Every bad thing that happens is blasted everywhere all the time, often the whole day on TV. I watch and am saddened by so much tragedy. Sometimes I long for that summer when I knew so little of what was happening in the world. I was blissful and ignorant.
“May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country! “
July 4, 2013July 4th was always exciting when I was growing up. The next town over had one of the great parades which seemed to last forever filled as it was with bands and floats. We’d go to a house right on the parade route which had a huge porch where we’d all hang out to watch the parade. The table inside was covered with foods like potato salad and hot dogs and burgers and watermelon. Popsicles were in the freezer. It was eat when you’re hungry. At night came the fireworks. We never went that often, but I could see them from my house when they colored the sky high in the air. When I was older and a member of a drill team, I marched in that parade. When we’d get to the white house with the porch, the whole crowd of people would yell my name. I was both embarrassed and pleased. When I was older, my friends and I would go to the fireworks. We’d bring a blanket and some food and stake out a spot right near the water over which the fireworks would burst. We couldn’t help ourselves. The oohs and ahs came out of our mouths almost every time fireworks burst overhead and filled the sky with colors and patterns.
I remember the decorated carriage and bicycle contests held in the morning, before the parade. My sister won the year she was a hula girl. Her doll carriage was frilled with colored crepe paper looking like a hula skirt.
One year I saw Big Bother Bob Emery at the bandstand near the lake. He was on television every day when I was a little kid. I remember we’d toast President Eisenhower with milk as Hail to the Chief played. Big Brother was a TV icon to me. He’d play his uke and sing The Grass Is Always Greener.
I remember sparklers and how excited we were to have our own fireworks. I’d hold the sparkler as close to the bottom as I could when my father lit the top. I remember how sometimes a spark would land on my hand or arm and how it burned just a little. We’d spin the sparklers and make our own light show. The sparklers made a hissing sound when they burned. We’d each get one at a time and then we could back for more until the boxes were empty.
July 4th seemed to last forever, well into the night, well beyond my usual bedtime.
Let It Rain: Diane Krall
June 28, 2013“Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.”
June 28, 2013Such rain this morning, a mighty storm, and with it came the thunder which roared for what seemed like forever. I loved it. The day itself is now so humid I swear you can see it in the air, but there is a small breeze which gives some relief. I woke up late and felt pretty good. Only my leg is painful. That is partly from the surgery and partly from the PT I had yesterday. The nurse came this morning to check my vital signs. She determined I am alive.
I shopped yesterday and bought two things: something I needed and something frivolous. Today I will shop again. I own myself one more frivolous item. I also need a laundry basket but in no way does anything connected with laundry count.
The roads must be jammed with people looking for something to do. Luckily I get to stay home. I don’t need a single thing. I did my Peapod order and it will be delivered tomorrow so I’ll be good for days, even weeks. This is like my own fallout shelter but with open windows, my computer and TV.
Rainy days never made much of a difference when we were kids. The playground was closed, but there was still so much we could do. I loved bike riding in the rain and loved riding as fast as I could through puddles. I used to lift my feet off the pedals as I hydroplaned through the water. The bigger the wake, the more fun it was.
Reading is about the best way to spend a rainy day. Needing a daytime light makes it all seem cozy. I always loved being by myself to read. I’d usually stay in my room and lie in bed, over the covers, on my stomach. I could read all day with only a lunch stop for a sandwich and a glass of milk, okay maybe an Oreo or two to finish.
Where’s the Music?
May 17, 2013The music wil be quite late today so you’ll just have to come by again. I’m going to see the new Star Trek and my choices are 11:55 or 7:15 tonight so I’m leaving in a few minutes. Please do drop by later!
” The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets.”
May 13, 2013My house was chilly this morning as I had left windows opened all night. It’s a beautiful day, sunny and warmer than my house. While the coffee was brewing, I stood outside a while overseeing my vast estate. Gracie has dug a few more holes. She unearthed a huge Schlitz can. That one amazes me as I don’t drink beer, and I don’t know anyone who drinks Schlitz. I guess Gracie found herself a treasure.
I had a delightful Mother’s Day. My friend Tony invited his wife and me to dinner. The table was set so beautifully and beside each plate was a box of chocolates. We started with shrimp cocktail. The entrée was pork, mashed potatoes and salad. I love mashed potatoes, and his were scrumptious. Dessert was a lime chiffon pie made by Tony. The cosmos were delicious. After dinner we played Phase 10 and Sorry. Clare won Phase 10, and I won both games of Sorry. The crowd went wild!
Today feels like a workday Monday. I was tired when I woke up, and I had to drag myself downstairs. I actually could go back to bed for a nap. I wish I were one of my cats as both of them are now having their morning naps. Gracie too is asleep but in her crate.
I remember learning to ride my bike without using my hands. I’d stick my arms out for balance, and I could ride for a long time without needing to use the handlebars as long as it was a straightway. Turning corners was far more difficult. I had to learn to lean my body to get the bike to turn left or right, but I was never really great at it. Usually I had to grab the handlebars quickly or fall over. In my mind’s eye, though, I can still see myself, proud as anything, riding without touching the handlebars. I wanted everyone to notice. If I had known the word smug back then, it would have perfectly described me.
My brother played farm team little league baseball. Those teams didn’t get uniforms but got t-shirts and hats. They played at school fields, not the little league park. My brother’s team played at the East School. I used to go his practices because his coach would let me play. I played first base or third as I was quick with the glove and could throw from third to first. I could also hit. I remember hitting a double and sliding into second. It was a thrill for me, the sliding. I felt like a big leaguer. I think it is the only time I ever slid into a base, even when I played softball.
My pants were filthy after that slide, but I thought them worthy of being framed, but they weren’t. My mother threw them into the mashing machine and all evidence of my triumph disappeared in the soapy water.
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