“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”
Posted October 26, 2023 by katryCategories: Uncategorized
The weather is divine. It is already 70°. The air is still. The sun is bright and beautiful as it shines through the branches of the trees in the backyard, some of which have yellow leaves. Red leaves are climbing a pine tree trunk in the front garden. They are a bright red. Yesterday my yard got its fall cleaning. Downed branches were removed, dead flower stems were cut, and the bushes hiding my front door were clipped. The wild rose bush will no longer attack me when I walk too close to it. My garden and front yard look clean but winter bare.
Yesterday I overslept and missed my uke lesson, but I was on time for the afternoon concert. We have another concert this afternoon. It is the last concert of the cowboy songs. My favorite song is Jingle Jangle Jingle. It is fun to play and even more fun to sing.
One of my fellow uke players asked if I played an instrument before the uke. I told her I had played a mean triangle in the second grade. I showed her my technique. She got quite a chuckle from that answer.
When I was a kid, I was not a fan of vegetables even though they were part of supper every day and dinner on Sunday. I ate potatoes, but I never thought of potatoes as a vegetable. Mashed potatoes tasted too good to be a vegetable. I did eat peas and corn without a fuss and orange potatoes when my mother ruined a good thing by mashing carrots and potatoes together. I don’t think I ever saw spinach except in a Popeye cartoon, but even he didn’t entice me eat it. I doubt I could have recognized veggies like turnip or squash. My mother served what she knew we’d eat.
I seem to stay up into the wee hours then sleep-in the next morning. I remember the first time I stayed up late enough to see the TV channels sign off for the night which was usually midnight. One channel played the Star Spangled Banner. Another showed a plane soaring in the air with the Air Force song Wild Blue Yonder playing in the background. After the sign off was usually a test pattern of some sort with an annoying beep constantly playing. The test pattern I remember is the Indian who was wearing a head dress of white feathers. It was until the next morning, usually around eight, when programs resumed. Back in those days saying nothing was on TV was literal.
“A morning coffee is my favorite way of starting the day, settling the nerves so that they don’t later fray.”
Posted October 24, 2023 by katryCategories: Musings
We seem to be in the middle of a spate of lovely days. Today will be in the 60’s, but the rest of the week will be in the 70’s. I’m thinking a ride or two is in order. I’ll take all lefts this time. Most of those lead to the ocean.
Nala loves being in the yard. She stretches out in the grass, soaks up the sun and naps. Henry is straightforward, his task foremost. He runs to the tree, lifts his leg, does his business and comes back inside hoping for a treat or a sip of my coffee. If the sees my cup, he is relentless.
My father drank instant coffee. He preferred it to brewed. My mother liked Coke in the morning. She was neither a tea nor coffee drinker. My day has to start with coffee, usually two cups. My coffee beans come in the mail, a package every month. This month I’m drinking coffee from Uganda. I have some instant coffee in the cupboard. I needed it for a recipe. The only time I drank instant coffee was in Ghana, proof positive that taste buds can be muted, even ignored.
When I was a kid, my life was easy. It was a routine with school all week and church on Sundays. I patiently waded through through those days, through the week, until Saturday, my day. In warm weather, I was all over town on my bike. In the winter it was a matinee at the theater uptown or ice skating or sledding if we were lucky enough to have snow. I never minded the cold.
The books I read when I was a kid were classics or series like Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, The Bobbsey Twins or the Hardy Boys. I remember Heidi, Black Beauty, Little Men and Little Women. I remember Five Little Peppers which was about five poor kids growing up in the little brown house with their widowed mother Mamsie. It was a tug at your heartstrings book. I read several in the series and had my heart tugged every time.
This is a busy week. I have my usual uke practice and lesson and also two concerts in Brewster. This is transportation 2 week, walking songs.
Stone Cold Dead in the Market: Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan
Posted October 23, 2023 by katryCategories: Video
