01/01/2014 Happy New Year
Today I opened the toothpaste and managed to squeeze some out without standing on the tube. Good way to start the year.
On that day six people were killed, and several injured, including Congresswoman Gabbie Gifford. There was death, and there were heroes, and the killer's parents bear a different pain forever. When will we stop it?
The American Dialect Society has chosen the word 'because'
as the word of the year over 'twerk' and 'selfie.' Go here to read an article by Ben Zimmer, linguist extraordinaire.
This is amazing and I don't even like snow that much. This arctic fox wants dinner.
01/09/2014 gardens and signs and a shopping trip
When writing about the Athens Garden Clubs and the huge sign BOBBIN MILL GARDEN CLUB which loomed above my adopted corner garden, it is interesting to note that the Garden Clubs of America in several states, including Georgia, have lobbied and even sued billboard companies and other outdoor advertisers to curtail the proliferation of obtrusive signs along highways. To read the post go here
Today was busy. We even had an itinerary: doctor's appointment, Best Buy to buy a computer, Olive Garden for dinner. Wayne had to sit and read for an hour while I bought the computer, but I let him sit by the fire when we were eating dinner. Their salads are great.
Question on Trivia Today was to name the fast food place that was referenced in the 'Where's the beef?' political phrase. I missed it. It was Wendy's.
Today was busy. We even had an itinerary: doctor's appointment, Best Buy to buy a computer, Olive Garden for dinner. Wayne had to sit and read for an hour while I bought the computer, but I let him sit by the fire when we were eating dinner. Their salads are great.
Question on Trivia Today was to name the fast food place that was referenced in the 'Where's the beef?' political phrase. I missed it. It was Wendy's.
01/10/2014 just another day
Gloomy outside. We went to dinner with Ted and Gay Miller. Laughed a lot. We've grown old together.
Question on 'Trivia Today' was to choose the name of the TV show where the pet dog's name was Astro. duh
01/11/2014 tech day
I've spent the day with the new computer. So much stuff to move over, install, or struggle with. Having trouble with the wireless, but I'm stubborn so I'll get it done, maybe tomorrow. It's an HP All In One - CPU and all connections are behind the monitor -- very heavy. It also has that new Windows 8 touch screen. I don't know if I'll use it that much. I'm too accustomed to the desktop to start. I gave myself permission to get the new one because my old laptop has a key missing and the dark graphics are creeping down on the screen. Very scary! Also it has never let me be the administrator.
01/12/2014 language day
Because I found a really good article about the five steps in language usage change. Funny thing is, the changes usually come from the less educated and are gradually accepted by the linguists. I came on the article by reading a comment on another blog. Go here to read the article. language-change Fascinating, but is this etymology or just a case of changing word usage by popular demand or are those two the same thing?
01/13/2014 Trivia 4 - me 2
I'm either dunb or a poor loser, but I quit.
01/15/2014 coffee day
with my friend -- and go-see-another-friend day. She has a lovely room in the Alzheimer's Building at Highland Hills. I think she was glad to see us. She laughed when I told her about my falling down while walking the bulldog, and my friend had some of her family Christmas pictures to show. It's hard to see her try to remember, our good friend of more than forty years, who was always so full of life and fun. We don't stay long, just long enough to let her know we care about her. At least she knows for the time we are with her.
01/16/2014 Geek Squad
I never could get to the internet or my own wireless system on my new computer, so I called my geek squad friend. He got a connection by using an adapter, but yesterday that no longer worked, so I'm taking the computer back. The only thing it was good at was solitairre.
01/17/14 about flying --- in verse
Ego Trip
an eager traveler I leave Atlanta
fear all open heights
but not the plane which holds me in
with all the others
knees pressed close
against the back of one in front
I read I do the crossword with a pen I'm smart
I visit with my neighbor
I should tell him that his breath is bad
I've chosen 16A because I like the window seat
I watch the wing
the aileron vibrations
steward smiles at me he's gay I think no matter
he can only choose to bring me peanuts
and a drink a bloody Mary red and salty
vodka eases me I check my watch
look down and see the patterned fields
from red clay in the south
to black mid-western soil
the plane tilts left so slightly, then a lurch
that brings a lump into my throat
the pilot talks too much I tune him out
but now he's giving us the weather in Chicago
wishing us a pleasant day
we're landing soon I see the lake
the trees North Shore?
the buildings seem so small from here
the trains below spew smoke
the trucks and cars crawl through the city
and the country side
along the strips of concrete
asphalt even hot from here
and winding everywhere
the plane descends
the land comes near
and all I see now is the tarmac
narrowed stage
the flashers waving orange
the baggage truck
long buildings hangar doors
the tube that opens to our gaping side
I wait my turn to pull my bag from overhead
and wait again
to leave the plane
I hurry through the tunnel
weighted down
with carry-ons I carry off
my body sways becoming anchored
to the land
this is the gate G3
I leave it solo
I've another leg connection to another plane
to carry me yet farther
to my destination
this, my element the airport!
I'm a grown-up here a traveler
identity for just today
no longer mom or daughter
wife or sister
I'm a traveler with hobo purse sun glasses
The New Yorker tucked into the side a paperback
my tickets in their longish folder sticking out
one over-nighter that I carry
heavy one night's stuff
in case my luggage goes somewhere I don't
I give advice along the way
I have but ninety minutes
should I eat or find a bar?
I long to play my role
the seasoned traveler
I'll find a barstool swing my legs
pretend I'm free
an easy target for a handsome man
I'll find a way to flirt
a man to bat my lashes for
and then engage in repartee so clever
he will beg me to stay on,
but I'll say "No"
I find a likely bar but sigh and pass it by
instead I hurry on to K6A
a pizza stand along the way is more my style
my flight is in the line is long
I wait my turn again check in
then sit with others waiting for
"Now boarding flight four-ten."
I'll be there soon a traveler no longer
then just wife and mother
and the other.
-1997
01/18/2014 bone density
Also on Friday, the 18th, I had a bone density test. I wanted so much to reach 5' 3" in height. I almost made it until I started shrinking. I wonder what day that was, exactly what day did my spine say, "Enough stretching, Time to contract." I'm approximately-exactly five feet tall now. Will I get even shorter?
01/19/14 Martin Luther King Day
"If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well."
Martin Luther King Jr.
My daughter had this quote framed and hanging in her office.
01/20/14 I give up
I'm taking the computer back tomorrow.
01/21/14 still giving up
I took the All-in-one--Windows 8--Touch Screen back with no problems. Best Buy is good about that. I drove in the driveway at home and went straight to my computer and ordered an HP Pavilian laptop with Windows 7. I guess I don't embrace that much change easily.
01/24/14 the house
The last few days I spent in Decatur, going through some of the grandkids' clothes and some of Amy's old files . Marykay and her friends and neighbors have transformed Amy's home into the staged place it needs to be for the realtor, and their efforts were rewarded. The house is a beautiful, welcoming place, ready to put on the market. The changes made my tasks easier and and also harder because it took away the good memories -- all the evenings of talk, some silly and some serious, Christmas Eves, birthdays, habits forming into special chairs, talks in front of the fireplace, seldom with a fire. That was reserved for out on the patio in the raised pit. It was difficult to go through Amy's belongings, but it helps to know her so well. She would say, "It's just stuff, Mom." The memories evoked still hurt.
Thursday night Bam met Amy and me at a restaurant for dinner. That was a good dinner, good company. I stayed with Amy Thursday night, then Wes got home late from a conference in Louisville, so we watched Duck Dynasty.
Friday night Marykay and Charlie and I had dinner where Emma works, The Sprig, again good food and good company and I stayed with them Friday night.
Just to prove that I, as Celestine Sibley so aptly put it, have 'turned funny,' I left my gloves at Wes and Amy's, my coat and scarf at Marykay's, and the two boxes I was to bring home someplace, but MK found them. Evidently she knows where someplace is. I also left my favorite water bottle in Emma's car. I just say embrace your age and all its promise.
01/25/14 relaxing
I got to ride back to Athens with Emma Saturday morning, She was coming to Athens to eat lunch with G&G, but she left here early because she had to go to work at 5. Nice lunch, Emma's choice at Mirko's.
Wes and Amy came in the afternoon. Amy and I wanted to go to the Olive Garden because we like their salads. Of course we had more than salad. They stayed overnight and we did nothing, in fact, I sent a picture to Charlie of Wes in his bright print pajama pants because Charlie gave them to him for Christmas. We relaxed Saturday evening and most of Sunday. We love to have them here with Nacho, their Chihuahua, and Lumpkin, their sweet bulldog.
01/27/14 cats
My cat of 21 years had developed serious kidney trouble and was no longer with us. I missed her so much that I called Kim Woods, an animal lover friend and former colleague, to ask her if I should get another kitten at my age. I don't remember exactly what she said, but it was something like, "You're calling me, the owner of two goats, five cats, a couple of dogs, not to mention the animals in the creek under the waterfall, like snakes and frogs and turtles, to ask if you should get one little kitten?" Okay, that's not exactly what she said; I think I left out a rabbit or two.
Kelly Bettinger, Lisa Lowe, Lisa Donovan, Lisa LAngel Darvalics, Clodagh Phair-Miller, and Dee Palmer are officers and board members for the Campus Cats organization, which is CatZipAlliance in Athens.
“Cat Zip Alliance (CZA) was officially formed on January 15, 2007. It is a nonprofit organization with 501(3)(c) tax exempt status. The mission of CZA is to substantially reduce the number of homeless cats and put an end to unnecessary euthanasia and feline overpopulation in Athens-Clarke County and surrounding communities by actively promoting and practicing the principles of responsible feral cat management.”
The main information to take away from this description of the organization is that they are concerned with the many cats who live on the University of Georgia campus. When they find such a cat, they use the TNR method of rescue; that is,” (trapping, spay/neuter, rabies vaccination & other vet care, kitten adoption, daily monitoring and the lifelong care & feeding of any adult cats who are returned to their campus territories.) However, this is not a rescue organization for picking up stray cats in your neighborhood.” They will refer you to the correct county facility that will perform that service, or you can check here.
(Both quotes taken from their website, http://catzip.org/index.html)
I found Campus Cats because I went online looking for a kitten. The first kittens I saw were Lily's three. Lily is a pure gray, lovely cat who was eventually adopted or returned to her place on campus after being neutered and immunized. First she stayed in Kelly's house to care for her kittens. One of them was called Bree. She had fallen shortly after birth and before Campus Cats found Lily and her kittens. They took Bree for repair of a broken leg. She has a pin in that bone, and I've seen the last x-ray of a beautiful job done by Good Hands Veterinary Hospital, in Athens. Also she is spayed. For adoptions, CZA arranges and pays for neutering the kitten or cat, and the adoptive parents must guarantee that the cat will be indoors only.
The cats that are returned to campus after TNR are fed daily. When I called my friend Kim to tell her about my new kitten, I told her about the feeding and she said, yes, she knew about that because cats would start gathering in a grassy place across from Boyd Graduate Studies and she had seen them fed. CZA also has a program for barn cats. Strays can be trained to be barn cats or those who come from barns are returned to their former environment after TNR .
Even if you are not in the market for a new lovely kitten or cat, see if you can help with a donation or in other ways.
Visit their interesting web site at http://catzip.org/index.html/ Even if you can't help with a donation, their web site is something you might want to read just for the information, and the knowledge that a group of women has taken over the care of an ever growing feline population on the University of Georgia campus.
See the December 3, 2012 issue of the UGA Columns for a front page article 'To the rescue' and a picture of Kelly Bettinger, Shadow, and her sister. She's famous! She's front page!
01/28/14 snow
Today my favorite word is snow. Think of all those beautiful flakes, not a doppelganger in the bunch. Not a very good way to talk about such a fragile subject and a snowflake isn't a person, but duplicate sounded just as bad.
Charlie and I have been exchanging snow texts and pictures. A few inches have fallen in Decatur, and he got out of school early. Our snow is more a sprinkling in Athens.
There's a dangerous side of snow - difficult driving, avalanches, frostbite, etc., but today I want to think of the beautiful and fun snow: snow man, snow angel, skiing, sledding, snowball fights -- and the breathless silence of a snowy night.
I posted this as a reply on my friend Ashley's blog baddestmotherever. Today she's a Southerner hyped up on a snow day! But she has a great blog every day. Check it out, including the archives.
Okay, here’s grandma talking about how I walked miles (actually one) to school in deep snow in Illinois. My parents grew up in Minnesota, so they had better stories – one-horse open sleigh stories. But I remember when my children were kids here in beautiful Georgia, I welcomed snow. Sleep late, get out the warm clothes, and help build a snowman when they were little.
The first year we had snow in Georgia, I dropped my daughter off at kindergarten. Snow? Luckily there was a nice janitor there who called us. It was less than an inch of snow!. (I taught school in the middle of corn fields in Illinois — snow tires, the whole scene — also beautiful.)
Contrary to your memory of a yankee’s attitude toward snow, I’m one of thse ‘damned yankees’ — I stayed. And unlike some of your examples, I kept my mouth shut and adapted. I’m sure I asked THE question of someone. “So let me get this straight, one inch of snow and everything shuts down?” And I’m sure I walked away laughing and thinking, “I’m sure I can handle that.”
We were lucky enough to live at the top of ‘suicide hill’ in Green Acres, so I think the whole subdivision of kids was there. I had mittens hanging in front of the fireplace, kids warming themselves by the fire, and hot chocolate on the stove — and large bandaids. I had made a pot of spaghetti as soon as the weatherman said ‘significant snowfall.’ There would never be more than 5 or 6 or 10 at a time, and they all knew each other because of the summer swim team. It was really fun. Lest you think I think I’m some kind of saint of a mother, remember it happened so seldom that it was new every time. Even a house full of kids you like can get old after a while?
I love snow in Georgia. Good memories.
Great State of the Union message tonight. I hope this year is a good one for the President. I really like him and respect him. Resisting hateful people all the time can't make his presidency pleasant even for the good parts. I don't understand why hate is preferable to love of country. It just doesn't make sense, but I think some of the racism is so deep that it isn't even recognized for what it is.
Good luck, Mr. President.
01/29/14 most of the snow is gone
Yesterday there was more snow in the Atlanta area than we thought, people stranded in their cars, school buses that had to take kids to the nearest school to spend the night because they couldn't get through the pileups and traffic jams on the highways. One baby born in a car and two deaths. Probably there will be lots of kids with nightmares unless it became just one big pajama party. I hope the latter. We didn't get that much and it's above freezing today. I think I even saw some sunshine.
01/30/14 Julie Segrest Retirement
What a nice tribute to Julie's professional career. She began at Developmental Studies (now the Department of Academic Enhancement) the same year my husband did, he having spent most of his career in the College of Education, Department of Counseling. Julie was a gem then and was evidently indispensable to all who came into her spheres of excellence. She's young to retire, so we can't wait to see what she does next.
Went to Dr. Vranna before (just a checkup) and to the Olive Garden again after -- can't get enough of that salad.
Lots of political fall-out from the mishandling of the snow in Atlanta. Seems the city streets of Atlanta were cleared, but the rest of the Atlanta area was a mess; cars stalled on highways, people sleeping in supermarkets, Home Depot, walking miles to get to some shelter after their cars ran out of gas. All of that was serious enough, but I don't believe anyone was seriously hurt, mainly seriously cold.
I have a habit of throwing my coat, scarf and gloves in the car if there's even the possibility of cold weather. I think it's because I grew up in Illinois. I don't like to be cold.
FEBRUARY 2014
02/01/14 good site
If you haven't found the web site visualthesaurus.com, you should look for it. Of all the good sites I've found, this is my favorite. I think it's about $20 once a year, and worth every penny. There's a new word every day--and a newsletter. Sometimes I read it 'kivver to kivver' and sometimes not at all. Always good. I think writers must fight to get on the site.
Let's talk bonuses. There's the crossword each month. It's always a medium challenge with a theme and of course you can do it online or print it off and look up things on the internet or in your dictionary. Plenty of time to send it in, and everybody who gets it right gets a t-shirt.
My favorite, however, is Ben Zimmer's column. The last one I read was about emoticoms - history of - not as recent as you think.
Before that was: How "Kung Fu" Entered the Popular Lexicon.
And before that was: Know your nunchucks! With Supreme Court references.
The etymology is pictured, with pronunciations, and you can move the words around to see what other words are connected. I think it's just a toy for lovers of lexicons.
02/03/14 my favorite word today
lilliputian happens to be the visual thesaurus word of the day - not a coincidence - I took it. In my copy of Gulliver's Travels when I was a child, there was a picture of Gulliver on his back tied down by a multitude of strings, with the Lilliputians running aroud him -- pulling and tying in all sorts of contorted positions. I remember being a little frightened of his ordeals to the point where I don't think I finished the book. And yet, lilliputian -- what a delightful word.02/04/14 'morally pernicious'
I reread yesterday's reference and found again the words that stopped me, made me understand Mr. Critchley's title 'The Dangers of Certainty: Lessons from Auschwitz,' his remembrance of a long ago television series on The Ascent of Man, presented by Dr. Jacob Bronowski in 1973. We would do well to learn the lesson again, now.
“One aim of the physical sciences has been to give an actual picture of the material world. One achievement of physics in the 20th century has been to show that such an aim is unattainable.” For Dr. Bronowski, there was no absolute knowledge and anyone who claims it — whether a scientist, a politician or a religious believer — opens the door to tragedy. All scientific information is imperfect and we have to treat it with humility. Such, for him, was the human condition. (italics mine)
This is the condition for what we can know, but it is also, crucially, a moral lesson. It is the lesson of 20th-century painting from Cubism onwards, but also that of quantum physics. All we can do is to push deeper and deeper into better approximations of an ever-evasive reality. The goal of complete understanding seems to recede as we approach it. (italics mine)
There is no God’s eye view, Dr. Bronowski insisted, and the people who claim that there is and that they possess it are not just wrong, they are morally pernicious. Errors are inextricably bound up with pursuit of human knowledge, which requires not just mathematical calculation but insight, interpretation and a personal act of judgment for which we are responsible. The emphasis on the moral responsibility of knowledge was essential for all of Dr. Bronowski’s work. The acquisition of knowledge entails a responsibility for the integrity of what we are as ethical creatures."
perimeter of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein.
02/05/14 my favorite word today is ebook
I ran across this today while looking for something else. Another readers' history lesson. Go here to read about ebooks -- or copy and paste this:
http://contemporarylit.about.com/b/2014/01/30/40-years-of-ebooks-infographic.htm?nl=1
02/06/14 Rhubarb Shortcake
02/06/14 Rhubarb Shortcake
02/10/14 writing
Yet more, a group this time, writers on writing. Do you ever read an article or book and say 'That's not right, you can't teach writing: composition yes, writing no?' This group of writers is evidently writing more about the human process, their feelings, frustrations, their personal experiences as successful writers. This is about.com, a well-known and trusted site, and the title of this article is ' Inviting Writers to the Classroom,' which contains a list of books along with the text written by Dr. Nordquist. I usually don't trust books on writing, but there are books about grammar, word usage, rhetoric, point of view, tense, etc., that are more than references. My favorite is Don't Sabotage Your Submissions, by Chris Roerden. I've read it cover to cover and have it on my desk, not over on the bookcase with the other 'how to write' books.
Confession: Chris is a friend and editor of most of my stories. I thought they were pretty close to perfect when I sent them to her. And how I was mistaken - every blue mark she made was legitimate. Chris has been an editor for more than forty years. If you see her name on a conference list or other presentation, be sure to attend. She can even be funny. She has a website with her schedule and printouts for formatting a manuscript - on paper or on line - among other items. Her special interest is mystery writing.
The author of the about.com article, taken from the site: " Richard Nordquist, Ph.D. in English, is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Armstrong Atlantic State University and the author of two grammar and composition textbooks for college freshmen, Writing Exercises (Macmillan) and Passages: A Writer's Guide (St. Martin's Press). Richard has served as the About.com, Guide to Grammar & Composition since 2006.
"Richard holds a bachelor's degree in English from the State University of New York at Geneseo (with a year of study at the University of Nottingham in England), a master's degree in modern English and American literature from the University of Leicester in England, and a doctorate in English and rhetoric from the University of Georgia."
Do you think he's a Bulldawg? I know some emeritus professors who are.
Do you think he's a Bulldawg? I know some emeritus professors who are.
that I received a complimentary email today from Chris about my blog. We exchange long emails every few months to catch up. Such a good friend.
02/12/14 creation
Be sure to read 'The Danger of Creation' on delanceyplace for 02/12/2014 before you show the world your latest invention, work of art, musical composition, book - in short 'your creation.'
02/14/14 Valentine's Day
We ate out with the Millers, meant to go to the Olive Garden again, but even going early, we met with a real crowd. Went to Logan's Road House instead. Pretty good.
02/15/14 nothing but editing all day
02/18/14 bookwork
and one funny picture of a cat tangled up in window blinds to make me laugh. Thanks, Cindy.
02/18/14 justice
Isn't the 'stand your ground' law a violation of the constitution?
02/19/14 process
The plural for process is processes, not processeeze. Okay, got that off my chest. Don't feel bad. I've heard a couple of Rhodes scholars mispronounce it. I had to look it up.
02/21/14 weekend
Wes and Amy are here for the weekend. Tomorrow is Amy's birthday (sister Amy) so we're going to a place where we had dinner with her, and the hostess told us when we were ready to leave that she didn't often see a family that had so much fun. Thank you, Amy.
02/24/14 weekend
a very relaxing time with Wes and Amy
02/24/14 Delancey Place
Today delancyplace.com is about the US growth of sky scrapers in the twenties. Even thinking about the words 'sky scrapers' is fun. Go HERE
There's also a fun grammar exercise today on About.com. Go here
02/28/14 mathematics
Have you met Hollie McNish?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i4tYzvx6wU
MARCH
3/04/2014 National Grammar Day
3/08/2014 last days
This week I spent a few days in Decatur with my grandson. This journal entry is the post for March 8, 2014. Go here to read it.
3/13/2014 random reading
There's a poetry contest this month at the Indiana Review. I haven't entered a contest for a few years, and I thought I might, but first I googled the final judge, Eileen Myles avant-garde.
In the background was Joyce Carol Oates on MSNBC as a guest on The Cycle.
I have a theory that some authors are well known because of the volume of work they produce. I believe those two fall into that category. In about 1993, (I was working at the time, so I took a campus bus to the Journalism Building) I didn't want to be a journalist, I wanted to know how some of these jerks get to be political experts on TV. It seems there is a name for it -- status conferral. It goes like this. The person who wants to be invited onto a show as an expert gets someone (hires an agent, has a friend) to tell some TV producer that you would be a good resource, expert for subject X. That starts the ball rolling. Then because you've been on that program as a resource (expert) for X, then someone else asks you to be on their program, and on it goes -- status as an expert in X has been conferred -- status conferral. That doesn't mean that there are no real experts consulted for information about X. There are many. I think the TV system has to fail for the status conferral to work.
I think something similar is true of authors. They get published and then write and write and their volume is impressive, never mind that the product is hastily put together with only a line edit and nothing else. Look at publishers' fall lists -- full of previously published authors, maybe one or two new. I don't write books, but I do read a lot. Even with that process in the system, meaning the hype is often overboard for mediocre work, there are still every year excellent works published. Maybe every profession has some of this 'status conferral' going on, and it's just that I read so much that I come across it in book publishing.
3/14/2014 pi 3.14 get it?
|
MAY
The day to pick some flowers, put them in a little basket and hang it on the doorknob of the one you love -- a long gone custom that went the way of the maypole in the U.S.
5/2/2014 nuffing
As Emma said on getting into the car after Grandpa took her to Game Day for UGA football, "I did nuffing." If it's possible to foot stomp while getting into a car, I think she did some of that, too. When I say I did nothing, I simply mean it's been a nothing day.
5/3/2014 something
I worked on posts all day, was in that chair so long my ankles were swollen when I finally stood up at about 9:30 pm -- missed most of the PBS British comedies, too. I don't know what to say. I love writing, I like to search youTube for old stuff. This time I was looking for performances of The Typewriter Song by Leroy Anderson, and I found some gems. I think musicians are very funny people. They're like swimmers, one second can mean a lot. I hope I don't have too many links. You can pick just one and enjoy, but even then beware of ear worms.
5/8/2014 lost but not forgotten
Gay and I met for breakfast this morning. It's been two weeks. Lots to talk about.
Still working on the piece about typewriters, I was carried away by all the old Jerry Lewis youTube entries. There was always something about him that I didn't like, but looking at some of his routines in movies, I realize what a talented man he is. There's a jitterbug routine he did that was amazing, especially since we don't think of him as any more than a goofy, stumbling comedian. In a way he was like Sammy Davis, Jr. in that he could do anything.
5/9/2014 Charlie's Musical
We went to Decatur tonight to see the Henderson Middle School musical There's No Business Like Broadway. In one number Charlie had to juggle -- needs a little work. His solo was 'Nicest Kid in Town' from Hairspray. Not only can he sing, but he has some great moves. He was truly good, and that's not just Grandma talking. Every kid did a great job, but Charles Wayne Antenen was the best. That might be Grandma talking, but I doubt it. He was really good.
5/10/2014 the toilet
Today go over to Delancey Place and read about the invention of the toilet and the interesting evolution of the word toilet. Then there's Mr. Crapper.
5/10/2014 Wes
Wes came with Lumpkin and Nacho to spend Mothers Day weekend with me. This afternoon Wes and I spent four hours at two car dealers getting all the information for the purchase of a new car. It's been more than ten years since Wayne and I have bought a new car. Wayne went to Atlanta this week to check some dealers. Now we're comparing notes. Cooked steaks tonight, but I don't think we'll fight the crowds for 'brunch' tomorrow.
5/11/2014 Mothers Day
Wes fixes a mean breakfast. Amy is with her Mom, but she called me and sent a lovely plant. We like doing Mothers Day this way. Nobody has to share a kid! Now my sweet granddogs have to go home, too.
5/12/2014 Monday
I'm noticing something about my blog. I thought the 'elderly' would be my visitors, but it seems that's not true. Come on Old People! Where are you? But I love having all you young people visit -- makes me happy.
Doctor Butt this afternoon for a short checkup. This morning got an estimate of $450 to pressure clean the house.
Looks as though the car is a done deal, too. Red!
5/14/2014 Wednesday coffee
Do British people walk on the left side of the aisle in a supermarket?
5/15/2014 car
Bought the car today and I drove it home from Heyward Allen. Glad we bought it in town this time. Not really, we leased it. It's a Buick LaCrosse - bright red. Supposed to be Oo la la rouge, but when we got it the color was Sparkling Red or some such nonsense. Personally, I liked the Oo la la.
5/16/2014 car
Got in the car late in the afternoon and spent the next four hours with GM, a closed Heyward Allen, OnStar which was just activated the day before. Then Buick's Roadside assistance. They came out and charged the battery for us within an hour. We had evidently left something on all night -- still don't know what. By then we were exhausted, had used up all of our car maintenance skills, and were checking for possibilities of renting a car. All closed until 7:30 Saturday. Luckily didn't need them. We had to be in Decatur by nine the next morning for Emma's graduation at 10. Riding with Wes and Amy. Wes drove the new car he had helped me pick out the week before.
5/17/2014 Emma's graduation
We made it to Wes and Amy before nine. Never saw such a long line at the church where the Lakeside Hjgh School Commencement was being held. The line snaked around and just as we neared the church to turn back into another long line, someone in a shirt and tie (thought that was important) opened the door in front of us and beckoned to us to come in. He didn't have to beckon twice. Never answer when someone beckons you. That door led to the huge balcony which could only be reached by climbing three flights of stairs. We made it and our luck turned. It was really great to see Emma in her cap and gown walk across that huge stage to get her diploma. Worth all the stair climbing. She's so special.
Lunch at Bam's, everything decorated beautifully for Emma's graduation. Food great, too! She has such a lovely house and the fire set up outdoors so we could sit by it just the way we did at Amy's house.
5/18/2014 thinking and writing day
I spent all day writing and editing. I've been thinking about adding something to my journal. I'm always remembering things in my past, funny things the kids have said and done. Things about Amy that I want to know, and can probably find out through her friends. Like who taught her to do that piercing whistle. I remember sitting around with a friend and working at rolling my r's. I can still do it, but it's labored and I can't do it in the middle of a word very well. I'm not going to be an opera singer any time soon, so I suppose it doesn't matter. But that makes me think she probably sat around with somebody who taught her to do that whistle and I'd just like to know who, as we used to say, 'just for the hell of it.' Of course, she also had that life guards' whistle that she twirled endlessly on the lanyard. I'm going to start my questioning with Kenny and Robin.
5/19/2014 another thinking and writing day
I've done more pondering about the idea of adding to the journal with some reminiscing, but how do I label it?
Things like this. One day when Wes was about three years old, and I had been after him to get dressed so I could take him to Kittredge Day Care. He didn't want to leave the morning cartoons he was watching, so he stomped down the hall and came back with a picture of me. I had a big head with arms and three-fingered hands growing out of it, a body, legs, and three-toed feet. Above the eyes, nose and mouth were a lot of scribbles, sort of a bird's nest of lines. He brought it out of his room, still stomping and said, "There, that's your brain. You're always thinking of something."
5/21/2014 Wednesday coffee
Gay and I get away for this two hours out of our week. We used to have three when Donita was well enough to come. It's so nice to be able to talk to someone who knows you well. I think sometimes about what these years would have been without Gay, empty. I hope I return the favor.
Lots of visitors at our writers group. Janice, Genie, and Donna came and we ate afterwords at that Italian Restaurant at the end of Milledge. Paige was there, too, but she came alone and we didn't decide to eat until we were almost past the place. It was fun to get together with these writers I've known for so long. Billie had copies of her newly published second book, so she was walking around with bills in her hand, said she had chill bumps, and I told her goose bumps. Same thing. She hadn't meant to sell, just show, but everybody wanted to buy. She only had three, so next time she'll bring more, and I'll get one. She treated us to supper with all that money! Lots of us had a chance to read, and for the first time I read from my blog about falling down. Need to get some stories sent off next week. I have three ready to go.
5/22/2014 prep for colonoscopy
Not fun but it has to be done occasionally. I started drinking that stuff at about 6pm. Hospital tomorrow at 11.
5/23/2014 colonoscopy and Emma's birthday
I don't think these two things have anything to do with each other. It just happened that they occurred on the same day. I would rather talk about Emma. Today was her 18th birthday. I can't believe it's that long ago that we (and I do mean we) brought that precious little baby home from the hospital. I got to stay with Marykay that week to help and we had so much fun, except for when MK said bad words because Emma bit her when nursing. You would have thought Emma had teeth. A visit to the pediatrician helped.
Amy had to work, but at night she would help - especially with the blowouts. You were special, Emma, no doubt about it. We fought over who was going to get to hold you. It seems babies can't see well enough to distinguish anything but shapes, so you had what looked to you like five helmets hovering above you all the time.
5/24/2014 quiet Saturday
Gutters got cleaned today and I chose my pressure cleaner. I got three estimates for doing the house, all the decks and all the cement drives and walks. $430, $850, $1248. Wow. I liked the professionalism of the last two, but chose the $850, of course. He and his wife are having their third child. He's excited because it's a girl this time after two boys. I'll write about how it goes. We're really trying to do all of the outside cleanup. The house is now 17 years old, so it needs some work. www.Costaspainting.com
Windows and yard cleanup come next as well as the porch and woodwork in the house. We do that much every year.
I listened to a lot of music today and did my daily Scrabble games, and my May journal. My Scrabble ELO is slipping.
5/25/2014 my memorial day
This is the day from 2013 that I've chosen to be the day that Amy planted impatiens in the bed I can see from my kitchen window -- if I stand on a stool We've had so many special days in May this year that I had to choose one. I don't remember the real date. A visit from Amy was never forgotten because I so looked forward to it. Now I'm sorry I didn't put it on the calendar. She was very tired, but she wanted to do it for me. so I helped by bringing her the impatiens plants and taking away trash. She planted them for me because I can't do it any longer. I've tried every position and everything hurts when I try. She always said she doesn't have a green thumb. I don't either, but I'm good at replacing. Those plants thrived.
We watched the Memorial Day celebration on PBS tonight. I cried, I always do, but I cried harder this year because I've recently been reminded what it means to lose a child. Wayne stood up and saluted when they honored the Army.
He keeps reminding me that he's a veteran. Quite a few years ago, the DMV set up places where you could renew your driver's license. Veterans didn't have to pay. When Wayne said he was a veteran, I said, "You're not a veteran." and he's teased me ever since. He's right, of course, and I guess I was thinking of a veteran as someone who had been in a battle. He was a medic and stationed at Fort Sheridan in Chicago for two years.
5/26/2014 quiet Sunday
There are an interesting few paragraphs about welfare in Elizabethan England HERE on Delancey Place. I'm a liberal cynic, I guess, or I've read too much Dickens not to think that most of the appropriated money didn't get anywhere near the poor. I continue to hope that we can do better, but the pictures taken before PEARL HARBOR could be taken today. The gap between the rich and the poor might destroy us. How much money is enough? I think we have enough. If we get more will we reach an exact point, a certain amount, where what we have is no longer enough?
5/28/2014 life poetry from Maya
http://www.upworthy.com/maya-angelou-wrote-this-poem-to-remind-everyone-theyre-worth-so-much-more?c=upw1
5/29/2014 not nuffing
Very wet around here -- had the house and walks and drive pressure washed. www.Costaspainting.com really did an excellent job.
5/30/2014 music
TO CRY: http://watchthisdaily.com/4006/ode-to-joy-orchestral-flash-mob-will-put-a-lump-in-your-throat-video/
TO LAUGH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQLCZOG202k#t=105
5/30/2014 Emma
A visit from Emma is so welcome. She's our very special only granddaughter. She always knows new places to eat and we like to catch up on her life. She will be leaving for Syracuse in August, so we went to the UGA bookstore to get her a MacBook. She had the last one for about four years. Time to start over with a new one for a graduation present. Emma and I ate lunch at Schlotzsky's, then went to Target and Best Buy. She needed earphones and I wanted a bright color case for my iPhone so I can find it in my purse without taking everything out. We got Grandpa and then ate dinner at DePalma's, came home and later went to Menchies where we ate our frozen yogurt outside. Beautiful evening, except for the three people who decided to yell at each other. We cringed and stayed quiet, trying not to laugh. We drove through Green Acres, came home and went to bed early.
JUNE
I got up before Emma and Grandpa so I made a stack of pancakes, but everybody made their own breakfast, and then Emma left for home about 1:30. She started work at a new restaurant at 5:30.
6/2/2014 Monday
I talked to Robin on Skype last week. Two things - one) she'll be in Athens the first week of August and - two) she doesn't know who taught Amy that whistle.
6/5/2014 Thursday
House outside and all walks, drive and carport pressure washed today. We were starting to see a little mildew under the eaves and didn't want to let it get a good start. Why am I tired when I didn't do the work?
6/6/2014 Friday
Noticed I've just used days of the week for headings, and except for the cleaning, that's what this week was - a week of days. Some times I miss Amy so much that I can't describe it. There's no place to turn and there are no words. Maybe the good thing this week is that my pressure cleaning man and his wife had a baby girl Tuesday. She has two brothers and her name is Camilla.
6/7/2014 Saturday
Still no post ready. Working on it.
6/8/2014 Sunday
Finished the post on left-handedness. Got excited about it once I was into it. Gave me a chance to write about my sister, Alice. She was a very talented woman who died too soon. Her girls miss her so much.
6/9/2014 Monday
Judy and her crew cleaned the woodwork in the house, everything on the porch and the windows inside and out. This year they also cleaned most of the finished basement. Judy is a gem, who visits me once a year to bail me out.
6/10/2014 Tuesday
Matt's crew came and did the spring yard cleanup, edging, pruning, and fresh pine straw. We're looking all spruced up around here.
6/11/2014 Wednesday
Coffee with Gay in the morning. We solved all the world's problems. I went to our writing group from 6-8pm. Everybody is moving along with good projects. I even started back on my Chips story.
6/13/2014 Donita
My long-time good friend died this morning. How she would laugh knowing it was on Friday the 13th. Three of us, Gay, Donita, and I had coffee every Wednesday morning for so many years I don't want to count. Donita was six months older than I. On her 80th birthday in September, 2011, I wrote the following to put in her card.
"On my 40th birthday you wrote that you'd always be ahead of me paving the way, and here you are doing it again. On your 40th birthday, I printed out the words to “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” on my old upright Royal typewriter, listening to the record numerous times so I'd get it right. I don’t think I can do that again, but I’m so glad we stuck around to get old together."
I didn't give you that note, because by then early dementia had set in, and we never knew what your receptive mood would be. I still have the card you gave me on that 40th birthday and an onion-skin copy of the song. Maybe our lives weren't rose gardens, but friends like you made up the good memories. I hope you'll keep paving the way for me. Even if I take another road, I think our paths will cross.
6/14/2014 the lake
Went to the lake to celebrate Fathers' day with Wes and Amy. We sat at a rectangular table for five at the Silver Moon restaurant and Wayne sat at one end. That left an empty chair. I ate too much, but I kept looking at that chair. AmyD was across from me, so that helped. She's such fun to be around, and Wes sat next to me. We steal each other's food sometimes. Forgot to get a piece of his steak.
6/15/2014 why?
Wayne's working on one of the deck items, and I put together yet another desk chair hoping to solve back problems. I know that's it, because unless I sit at the computer all day, no problem!
6/20/2014 duh
7/1/2014 Shuler
Set removal of wrist plate for 7/22. I asked Emma to take me to the hospital. I miss you Amy for so many reasons. Went to Bernsteins finally. Cremated remains are kept in a crypt at Evergreen. He will call me. Left my purse at the doctor's office - Clyde.
7/4/2014 lake for 4th celebration
Went to the lake about 11, ate, played with Lumpkin and Nacho. Nacho just wants a lap - any lap. Wes and Amy took the kids out on the boat - Charlie used some kind of raft, not the tube. I got some kind of hot redness in eyes and cheeks. I never think about allegies because I never had them before. Ice cream and other food delicious.
Found out Ginger Butts is in serious condition at Emory and needs a liver transplant.
Charlie came home with us - Beta Beat camp next week.
We're so glad to have him.
7/5/2014 memorial for Donita
Left Charlie here and went to Mick and Donita's lake - nice low country boil - Kit teared up when she looked at me, she had just been asking Gay about the girls, and there
I sat, next - I didn't cry, just started talking about something else, probably Emma - more people there than I thought would be - events like that are necessary, but so damned final.
"We do a poor job of communicating futility." Radiolab today.
7/8/2014 camp for Charles
Second day of camp - seems to like it. He's good about getting up, showering, and ready to go on time.
Ordered birthday flowers for mk. I finished MAYBE NOT III, Radiolab about dying. Also have Friday's post almost done.
Hard to write. Ginger had transplant. Learned something about transplants. If it's a whole body, they have to wait for all recipients to be there and ready before they start to 'harvest.'
So far so good for Ginger. Just wait now. Kids are at home with Chris. Her sister and mother are at Emory with her.
7/9/2014 breakfast with Gay
Always good but Gay had to wait for me. Stomach. Of all times, favorite morning of the week.
Night writing group - such a good group, They inspire me.
Reject from EDF for Pink Angel. Looked up all three editors who made comments. Only found one and that one not connected to writing. Last time five readers, found them all and they really edited. Maybe I'll send email. Sad.
Still waiting for Ginger to wake up -- so far so good. Chris at home with the kids. Wish I could hug him.
7/11/2014 Charlie listening day
Went to Aderhold lab to listen to what kids have been doing all week. Great stuff, They used various sounds (not copyrighted) to create their own four-minute music piece employing software. Have to get those from Charlie.
Sent donation to Carebridge (?)and evidently I'm the count of one.
7/12/2014 slept all day
I don't believe it. I think that's the first time ever. I looked at the clock at 5:07 pm and went back to sleep for another two hours.
Worked on blog tonight and posted.
In Utah they stock lakes by dropping baby fish from airplanes.
Another athlete came out as gay today. Soon there won't be anybody left in the closet. That's so great. Wish Amy were here to see it.
No news is good news about Ginger.
7/19/2014 dinner with millers at la parilla(?)
7/20/2014 closet cleaning
Mainly moved clothes around and put more in the Good Will box. My closets are looking very spare now and I like that. If I put something on and I don't like the way it fits or looks, into the box!
I did some picture 'mining' meaning trying to find the ones I want to use. In the process I managed to clean up files and use meaningful titles - dates slip away from me but I used them on folders until I got the files separated
Ginger in physical therapy now - sounds like things are getting better and better. I think Chris took the kids to the beach. Discovered they call Mary Scott 'Scout' - didn't know that before.
7/21/2014 pictures and post
I think I'll finally get that picture of Charlie at the beach to Kenny.
Read an encouraging article in the NYT about the possibility of the Democratic Party taking back the South with the Black vote. Gee whiz! Been voting with the Democrats in the South for years and didn't know I wasn't supposed to do that, being 'white' and all.
Emma came tonight, but we went to bed early.
7/22/2014 hospital
No big deal. Shuler is going to take the hardware out of my wrist. Went in at noon but had to wait until 1:30+. I didn't even get to feel loopy because the nurse had a kink in the line and I wasn't getting anything until right before we went in for the surgery. At least Emma and I had a chance to talk. She's coming next week so we can do our usual 'school supplies' shoppimg. That was Amy's thing. She and I always did that together and it carried over to the kids. Then before we went, Grandpa would give them money for 'something special.'
7/23/2014 hospital leftovers
Coughed a lot. Don't my lungs know I quit smoking 30 years ago? Arm hurts, but not enough for pain pills. I have wasted the day. Not quite. I sorted the books ln the pie safe. Talked to Bam. Can't wait to hear about the bike ride, Charlie really likes to do that. Maybe he's found a sport with no ball in it.
7/24/2014 hospital leftovers
Not coughing much and wrist doesn't hurt at all. Can remove bandage tomorrow.
Got an email from Marilyn, but will answer downstairs tomorrow. Easier keyboard.
New liver for Ginger late last night. The picture is so clear of that little boy at Kittredge.
7/25/2014 bandage off!
Yes, I took off the bandage as soon as I got up this morning. Bloody! But I cleaned it up and it looks ok. I guess I'll have a small scar on the inside of my wrist, but at least I won't be worrying about splitting a tendon.
Answered Marilyn with more than she wants to read, probably. It would be so nice to have her closer so I could help her for a change. I know Cheryl is trying to give her some time away, but it would be so much easier for me to do it if we lived closer.
Ginger out of surgery, so far so good.
Posted Blogging and Grieving. Got an anonymous comment and it had a note inside referring to the writer. Sweet note.
Have I written yet about my new car?. I guess so because we've had it for awhile, but I keep learning new things about it. Really fancy. Couldn't help but think about how Amy used to take off at night when she got her first car -- the Colt. She'd say she was "going Krogering."
7/26/2014 lazy Saturday
Watched everything on DVR from this week -- then British comedies
When I went to Athens Tech in 1981, there was no real course of study for programming yet. I didn't have to take the core courses because I already had a degree. So when I finished all the coursework in Accounting and Programming there was no ceremony and no graduation, not even a real diploma. All those things came later as the school grew into a real tech school with associate degrees, etc.
On my last day of classes Amy had a single rose sent to me. She knew how much it meant to me, -- called me a bud. I don't even know what that means. She wrote it on the folder that held my flow charting stencil. Now I look back and see this very wise person who was my daughter and I wonder - which one of us was the mom.
7/27/2014 nuffing Sunday
7/28/2014 weisenheimer
Today's word on Visual Thesaurus. Haven't heard it for years, was popular slang when I was young. Means wise guy or smart aleck or wise acre. Now I'll have to look those words up. All are old slang.
7/28/2014 Harper Lee
Today I bought The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee, by Marja Mills.
`
AUGUST
Timed everything perfectly. We were almost home when Wayne called to let us know that Robyn and Erica were on their way to visit. Had a couple of hours of fun with them. Probably was a little boring for Emma, but these were her Mom's good friends from high school and beyond, so it was nice that she was here. Really enjoyed our time with them. Hope Erica will stop in now and then. She works between here and Austin, Texas and where else I don't know. Doctor Robyn Raschke is a professor at UNLV, but she's still just Robyn, still having a good time with life. Amy was lucky in her friendships, but maybe it wasn't luck.
We all miss her.
Today my college roommate called. I had called her several times, but never got an answer. She said, "You thought I was dead, didn't you?" I said, "Of course I did. But your phone wasn't disconnected so I had hope."
She hasn't changed a bit, but then that's what we all say. She's going into the hospital on September 16th for back surgery. She's had a lot of trouble for years, and is hoping that this will make the big difference. She's a year younger than I, although we were in the same class. She likes to call me on my birthday and remind me. I'll be thinking about her on the 16th.
I forgot to tell her I still carry the $5 her mother gave me the last time I visited. She was suffering from some dementia and got it in her head that we were still in college and I needed money. I would never part with my lucky five.
I forgot to tell her we bought a new car and it has heated seats. The last time she visited here, she liked our heated seats so much she went home and bought a new car.
Oh, there's so much to tell an old roommate. We met for the first time when they assigned us as roommates in the freshman dormitory, Fell Hall, in 1950. We lived together for three years and stayed friends through all this time. Been thinking about her as Emma starts her college career with a new roommate, also someone she didn't know. Hope it works out for her as well as it did for me. Friends are so important.
SEPTEMBER
I read "The Tree" in writing group. They wanted to know if I checked the time it takes for a chain saw to turn off for safety reasons.
I'm determined to get all pictures to my nieces today. Just have to look for comments on back and then pack up. That will be a good thing to have done. I promised them last Christmas.
Will try to get post out today. That'll be a dandy. That's what Wayne's grandmother said when we wanted to take a picture of her with her great grandchildren. "That'll be a dandy." I've been trying to locate archives for about.com, but as soon as I ask for that, it quickly passes that by and takes me to the current about.com.
Known Unknowns - planning to do a post about this soon, but it will have more about Donald Rumsfield. This one is about art. Don't let the cyclops scare you. Click HERE or you do the work and copy and paste here.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/11072938/Known-Unknowns-Arresting-images-from-a-new-book-by-Charles-Saatchi.html?frame=3025834
I just saw an ad for an oven: This Oven Teaches You To Be a Better Cook. That would probably be a poor investment for me, because miracles aren't for sale.
Barb had her surgery today?
9/17/2014 mice, writing group, and memories
I discovered where the mice had their nest in the basement. Enough said about that. writing group: I read my puzzling emails to them from Meat for Tea. They didn't have many ideas. It's a Puzzlement, perhaps Yul can figure it out.
Memories like this happen everyday. Looking at all the frozen vegetables at Krogers --steamer butterbeans (Green Acres swim team called Amy Butterbean.) I look at the speedometer on Simonton Bridge Road and I'm going 40- speed limit 45. (Amy said I had one speed --40-- whether I was in Green Acres or on the highway.) I pick up my pen at writing group. (It's a Uniball that I bought because Amy told me they're the best.)
Shadow likes to push things off my desk, and I've rewarded her because if she concentrates on that she stops licking and biting my arm. She thinks I'm another kitten. Now she's getting aggressive and wants to push everything off the desk. Whole piles of papers go flying to the floor. Yesterday she tried to push the stapler off and it's plugged in. Help!
Two things:
Finished and ready to mail.
Grandpa is fixing a roast. Smells good from here.
9/20/2014 Saturday
Cleaned up more spots on the hall carpet and living room.
Sent Becky a note to see if I can write about Akins Images.9/21/2014 Sunday
Read most of NYT Book Review. Bought The Trial and put on my wishing list a new book, Kafka's Law: "The Trial" and American Criminal Justice.
I've started the book about Harper Lee, by Marja Mills. The Mockingbird Next Door, Life with Harper Lee. Good, easy and keeps the attention. This week Harper Lee, at 88, wrote a letter, stating, "Rest assured, as long as I am alive any book purporting to be with my cooperation is a falsehood." Don't know what to think. Book seems to be legitimate.
Went through old pictures and found a better one of Scotty and one of me in saddle shoes. Scanned them and uploaded them to the posts.
9/20/2014 Bam is coming to visit
I'm sleepy. Updated my entry for yesterday, scanned and uploaded pictures. Need to finish my letter to Emma, and figure out how to do an envelope again. Haven't done any mailing for a long time.
Bam is coming after lunch with an old friend. Always love to see her.
We reminisced about the kids. Will never forget the day we found out in the same moment that Emma isn't perfect.
9/22/2014 Monday, yuk
Have to wash rugs and pick up. Celine is coming to visit.
9/23/2014 doctor
Yearly appointment with surgeon. I don't know why. I don't have any more breasts.
9/24/2014 writing and reading day
Listened to an hour-long radiolab as research for this week's blog. Hope I can get it written tomorrow. Charlie is coming for the weekend. Yea!
9/25/2014 a day
Haircut, pedicure, third place to get my phone moved over to new cell phone provider. It was already done. Will call tomorrow and get it turned on. I get to keep Siri - very important for notes and texting.
Got an email about a contest for a 150-word flash fiction contest. I can't do that. Maybe I can do that. I just did that. Now to give it a title. The Stream ??
I read it tonight for writing group. They all write long stuff, and most of it really good. Paige read a neat chapter about the chicken lady. We are inundated with chickens in this class. Larry still hasn't told us who the lady with the big butt is. Bob read a very sweet short story, and Teresa read an interesting chapter in the 'wolves' saga. She needs to settle. She's too good to keep meandering.
9/27/2014 remembering
While working on the post of 'things' something reminded me of Wes's decision that he could no longer say Ls or Rs. He went from ability to inability to say those two letters in about two days. We tried for a few days to figure it out and correct him. As soon as we heard his new friend from down the street talk, we knew, but what on earth made his five-year-old mind decide that was a good idea. We let it go, and he was soon back to saying Ls and Rs.
9/30/2014 coincidences
Did you ever notice that if you encounter something, it seems that you will encounter it again within a short time. I had never heard the term 'pot hunters' until I read Beverly Connor's book Skeleton Crew. Then yesterday I ran across it again when I was listening to the radiolab.org episode 'things." It has more than one meaning, but the one I found in both these places was a description for people who go digging in old sites and then take whatever they find, not bothering to discover the meaning or value of the find
OCTOBER
I can stay up late and sleep late tomorrow.
11/2/2014 observation
Wayne has trouble finding things. He couldn't find the broom in the storage closet off the carport. I know I've said many times that everything reminds me of Amy -- even the broom. Once she was with me at the store and I embarrassed her by trying out a broom in the store aisle. Was still teasing me about it years later. It had a plastic cover on the 'whisk' part. I thought it was a perfectly rational thing to do.
11/2/2014 melancholy day
It's really cold today -- ear muffs and fur-lined gloves cold. I went out twice. Fool.
I have new prosthetics. It takes me a while. I had to have a heavy one when the first breast came off, but now that they're both gone (2011 that's what I mean by a while.) so I can go 32A if I want to, well, maybe 42B. I can also have a drink now and then. Migraines plagued me until my sixties and alcohol of any kind would trigger one, so I just didn't drink. That was twenty years ago and it just lately occurred to me that a drink or two could be in my present and future. Brings me memories of my dad, a pipe, and roll-your-own cigarettes, but I definitely won't go down that path again.
delanceyplace.com has a good book excerpt today from Drunk Tank Pink by Adam Alter. Gloomy days help us think
more deeply and clearly. Who would have thunk it?
11/28/2014 Our Thanksgiving Day
Wes brought the food from Matthews in Atlanta (Decatur?) as he did last year. There were only six of us, Charles, Emma, Wes, and Amy. We had a good dinner. I had to do the first two steps of the mashed potatoes, because the kids didn't come until Friday morning. Emma finished them -- almost as good as Mommy's! It was Amy's job always, to make the mashed potatoes and gravy. Emma claimed it. The last couple of years, the middle aged kids did all the work.
No falling down this year, but I did end the month with what I thought was arthritis in my ankle.
11/29/2014 Ferguson
We watched and waited for the aftermath of the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Mo. There's a sickness in the land that such a decision can be shepherded through a grand jury with such a simple thing as using an old law, changed by the Supreme Court twenty-nine years ago, which told the jurors that a policeman was justified in shooting a suspect if he FELT THREATENED. Not surprising that SCOTUS changed it to the criteria of PROBABLE CAUSE FOR FEELING THREATENED from just feeling threatened. We always say this after the mistake is made, "Well, we know we have to fix that law now." 29 years The DA should have recused himself for many reasons, and the governor should have appointed a special prosecutor. "Mistakes were made." That's their mantra. Michael Brown is dead. We know about mistakes. We all make them, but because of this one, the police officer who killed Michael Brown will not go to trial. Mistakes were made. Young black men continue to pay the price for those mistakes. 29 years.
DECEMBER
5/1/2014 May Day
The day to pick some flowers, put them in a little basket and hang it on the doorknob of the one you love -- a long gone custom that went the way of the maypole in the U.S.
5/2/2014 nuffing
As Emma said on getting into the car after Grandpa took her to Game Day for UGA football, "I did nuffing." If it's possible to foot stomp while getting into a car, I think she did some of that, too. When I say I did nothing, I simply mean it's been a nothing day.
5/3/2014 something
I worked on posts all day, was in that chair so long my ankles were swollen when I finally stood up at about 9:30 pm -- missed most of the PBS British comedies, too. I don't know what to say. I love writing, I like to search youTube for old stuff. This time I was looking for performances of The Typewriter Song by Leroy Anderson, and I found some gems. I think musicians are very funny people. They're like swimmers, one second can mean a lot. I hope I don't have too many links. You can pick just one and enjoy, but even then beware of ear worms.
5/8/2014 lost but not forgotten
Gay and I met for breakfast this morning. It's been two weeks. Lots to talk about.
Still working on the piece about typewriters, I was carried away by all the old Jerry Lewis youTube entries. There was always something about him that I didn't like, but looking at some of his routines in movies, I realize what a talented man he is. There's a jitterbug routine he did that was amazing, especially since we don't think of him as any more than a goofy, stumbling comedian. In a way he was like Sammy Davis, Jr. in that he could do anything.
5/9/2014 Charlie's Musical
We went to Decatur tonight to see the Henderson Middle School musical There's No Business Like Broadway. In one number Charlie had to juggle -- needs a little work. His solo was 'Nicest Kid in Town' from Hairspray. Not only can he sing, but he has some great moves. He was truly good, and that's not just Grandma talking. Every kid did a great job, but Charles Wayne Antenen was the best. That might be Grandma talking, but I doubt it. He was really good.
5/10/2014 the toilet
Today go over to Delancey Place and read about the invention of the toilet and the interesting evolution of the word toilet. Then there's Mr. Crapper.
5/10/2014 Wes
Wes came with Lumpkin and Nacho to spend Mothers Day weekend with me. This afternoon Wes and I spent four hours at two car dealers getting all the information for the purchase of a new car. It's been more than ten years since Wayne and I have bought a new car. Wayne went to Atlanta this week to check some dealers. Now we're comparing notes. Cooked steaks tonight, but I don't think we'll fight the crowds for 'brunch' tomorrow.
5/11/2014 Mothers Day
Wes fixes a mean breakfast. Amy is with her Mom, but she called me and sent a lovely plant. We like doing Mothers Day this way. Nobody has to share a kid! Now my sweet granddogs have to go home, too.
5/12/2014 Monday
I'm noticing something about my blog. I thought the 'elderly' would be my visitors, but it seems that's not true. Come on Old People! Where are you? But I love having all you young people visit -- makes me happy.
Doctor Butt this afternoon for a short checkup. This morning got an estimate of $450 to pressure clean the house.
Looks as though the car is a done deal, too. Red!
5/14/2014 Wednesday coffee
Do British people walk on the left side of the aisle in a supermarket?
5/15/2014 car
Bought the car today and I drove it home from Heyward Allen. Glad we bought it in town this time. Not really, we leased it. It's a Buick LaCrosse - bright red. Supposed to be Oo la la rouge, but when we got it the color was Sparkling Red or some such nonsense. Personally, I liked the Oo la la.
5/16/2014 car
Got in the car late in the afternoon and spent the next four hours with GM, a closed Heyward Allen, OnStar which was just activated the day before. Then Buick's Roadside assistance. They came out and charged the battery for us within an hour. We had evidently left something on all night -- still don't know what. By then we were exhausted, had used up all of our car maintenance skills, and were checking for possibilities of renting a car. All closed until 7:30 Saturday. Luckily didn't need them. We had to be in Decatur by nine the next morning for Emma's graduation at 10. Riding with Wes and Amy. Wes drove the new car he had helped me pick out the week before.
5/17/2014 Emma's graduation
We made it to Wes and Amy before nine. Never saw such a long line at the church where the Lakeside Hjgh School Commencement was being held. The line snaked around and just as we neared the church to turn back into another long line, someone in a shirt and tie (thought that was important) opened the door in front of us and beckoned to us to come in. He didn't have to beckon twice. Never answer when someone beckons you. That door led to the huge balcony which could only be reached by climbing three flights of stairs. We made it and our luck turned. It was really great to see Emma in her cap and gown walk across that huge stage to get her diploma. Worth all the stair climbing. She's so special.
Lunch at Bam's, everything decorated beautifully for Emma's graduation. Food great, too! She has such a lovely house and the fire set up outdoors so we could sit by it just the way we did at Amy's house.
5/18/2014 thinking and writing day
I spent all day writing and editing. I've been thinking about adding something to my journal. I'm always remembering things in my past, funny things the kids have said and done. Things about Amy that I want to know, and can probably find out through her friends. Like who taught her to do that piercing whistle. I remember sitting around with a friend and working at rolling my r's. I can still do it, but it's labored and I can't do it in the middle of a word very well. I'm not going to be an opera singer any time soon, so I suppose it doesn't matter. But that makes me think she probably sat around with somebody who taught her to do that whistle and I'd just like to know who, as we used to say, 'just for the hell of it.' Of course, she also had that life guards' whistle that she twirled endlessly on the lanyard. I'm going to start my questioning with Kenny and Robin.
5/19/2014 another thinking and writing day
I've done more pondering about the idea of adding to the journal with some reminiscing, but how do I label it?
Things like this. One day when Wes was about three years old, and I had been after him to get dressed so I could take him to Kittredge Day Care. He didn't want to leave the morning cartoons he was watching, so he stomped down the hall and came back with a picture of me. I had a big head with arms and three-fingered hands growing out of it, a body, legs, and three-toed feet. Above the eyes, nose and mouth were a lot of scribbles, sort of a bird's nest of lines. He brought it out of his room, still stomping and said, "There, that's your brain. You're always thinking of something."
5/21/2014 Wednesday coffee
Gay and I get away for this two hours out of our week. We used to have three when Donita was well enough to come. It's so nice to be able to talk to someone who knows you well. I think sometimes about what these years would have been without Gay, empty. I hope I return the favor.
Lots of visitors at our writers group. Janice, Genie, and Donna came and we ate afterwords at that Italian Restaurant at the end of Milledge. Paige was there, too, but she came alone and we didn't decide to eat until we were almost past the place. It was fun to get together with these writers I've known for so long. Billie had copies of her newly published second book, so she was walking around with bills in her hand, said she had chill bumps, and I told her goose bumps. Same thing. She hadn't meant to sell, just show, but everybody wanted to buy. She only had three, so next time she'll bring more, and I'll get one. She treated us to supper with all that money! Lots of us had a chance to read, and for the first time I read from my blog about falling down. Need to get some stories sent off next week. I have three ready to go.
5/22/2014 prep for colonoscopy
Not fun but it has to be done occasionally. I started drinking that stuff at about 6pm. Hospital tomorrow at 11.
5/23/2014 colonoscopy and Emma's birthday
I don't think these two things have anything to do with each other. It just happened that they occurred on the same day. I would rather talk about Emma. Today was her 18th birthday. I can't believe it's that long ago that we (and I do mean we) brought that precious little baby home from the hospital. I got to stay with Marykay that week to help and we had so much fun, except for when MK said bad words because Emma bit her when nursing. You would have thought Emma had teeth. A visit to the pediatrician helped.
Amy had to work, but at night she would help - especially with the blowouts. You were special, Emma, no doubt about it. We fought over who was going to get to hold you. It seems babies can't see well enough to distinguish anything but shapes, so you had what looked to you like five helmets hovering above you all the time.
5/24/2014 quiet Saturday
Gutters got cleaned today and I chose my pressure cleaner. I got three estimates for doing the house, all the decks and all the cement drives and walks. $430, $850, $1248. Wow. I liked the professionalism of the last two, but chose the $850, of course. He and his wife are having their third child. He's excited because it's a girl this time after two boys. I'll write about how it goes. We're really trying to do all of the outside cleanup. The house is now 17 years old, so it needs some work. www.Costaspainting.com
Windows and yard cleanup come next as well as the porch and woodwork in the house. We do that much every year.
I listened to a lot of music today and did my daily Scrabble games, and my May journal. My Scrabble ELO is slipping.
5/25/2014 my memorial day
This is the day from 2013 that I've chosen to be the day that Amy planted impatiens in the bed I can see from my kitchen window -- if I stand on a stool We've had so many special days in May this year that I had to choose one. I don't remember the real date. A visit from Amy was never forgotten because I so looked forward to it. Now I'm sorry I didn't put it on the calendar. She was very tired, but she wanted to do it for me. so I helped by bringing her the impatiens plants and taking away trash. She planted them for me because I can't do it any longer. I've tried every position and everything hurts when I try. She always said she doesn't have a green thumb. I don't either, but I'm good at replacing. Those plants thrived.
We watched the Memorial Day celebration on PBS tonight. I cried, I always do, but I cried harder this year because I've recently been reminded what it means to lose a child. Wayne stood up and saluted when they honored the Army.
He keeps reminding me that he's a veteran. Quite a few years ago, the DMV set up places where you could renew your driver's license. Veterans didn't have to pay. When Wayne said he was a veteran, I said, "You're not a veteran." and he's teased me ever since. He's right, of course, and I guess I was thinking of a veteran as someone who had been in a battle. He was a medic and stationed at Fort Sheridan in Chicago for two years.
5/26/2014 quiet Sunday
There are an interesting few paragraphs about welfare in Elizabethan England HERE on Delancey Place. I'm a liberal cynic, I guess, or I've read too much Dickens not to think that most of the appropriated money didn't get anywhere near the poor. I continue to hope that we can do better, but the pictures taken before PEARL HARBOR could be taken today. The gap between the rich and the poor might destroy us. How much money is enough? I think we have enough. If we get more will we reach an exact point, a certain amount, where what we have is no longer enough?
5/28/2014 life poetry from Maya
http://www.upworthy.com/maya-angelou-wrote-this-poem-to-remind-everyone-theyre-worth-so-much-more?c=upw1
5/29/2014 not nuffing
Very wet around here -- had the house and walks and drive pressure washed. www.Costaspainting.com really did an excellent job.
5/30/2014 music
TO CRY: http://watchthisdaily.com/4006/ode-to-joy-orchestral-flash-mob-will-put-a-lump-in-your-throat-video/
TO LAUGH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQLCZOG202k#t=105
5/30/2014 Emma
A visit from Emma is so welcome. She's our very special only granddaughter. She always knows new places to eat and we like to catch up on her life. She will be leaving for Syracuse in August, so we went to the UGA bookstore to get her a MacBook. She had the last one for about four years. Time to start over with a new one for a graduation present. Emma and I ate lunch at Schlotzsky's, then went to Target and Best Buy. She needed earphones and I wanted a bright color case for my iPhone so I can find it in my purse without taking everything out. We got Grandpa and then ate dinner at DePalma's, came home and later went to Menchies where we ate our frozen yogurt outside. Beautiful evening, except for the three people who decided to yell at each other. We cringed and stayed quiet, trying not to laugh. We drove through Green Acres, came home and went to bed early.
JUNE
6/1/2014 Emma
I got up before Emma and Grandpa so I made a stack of pancakes, but everybody made their own breakfast, and then Emma left for home about 1:30. She started work at a new restaurant at 5:30.
6/2/2014 Monday
I talked to Robin on Skype last week. Two things - one) she'll be in Athens the first week of August and - two) she doesn't know who taught Amy that whistle.
6/5/2014 Thursday
House outside and all walks, drive and carport pressure washed today. We were starting to see a little mildew under the eaves and didn't want to let it get a good start. Why am I tired when I didn't do the work?
6/6/2014 Friday
Noticed I've just used days of the week for headings, and except for the cleaning, that's what this week was - a week of days. Some times I miss Amy so much that I can't describe it. There's no place to turn and there are no words. Maybe the good thing this week is that my pressure cleaning man and his wife had a baby girl Tuesday. She has two brothers and her name is Camilla.
6/7/2014 Saturday
Still no post ready. Working on it.
6/8/2014 Sunday
Finished the post on left-handedness. Got excited about it once I was into it. Gave me a chance to write about my sister, Alice. She was a very talented woman who died too soon. Her girls miss her so much.
6/9/2014 Monday
Judy and her crew cleaned the woodwork in the house, everything on the porch and the windows inside and out. This year they also cleaned most of the finished basement. Judy is a gem, who visits me once a year to bail me out.
6/10/2014 Tuesday
Matt's crew came and did the spring yard cleanup, edging, pruning, and fresh pine straw. We're looking all spruced up around here.
6/11/2014 Wednesday
Coffee with Gay in the morning. We solved all the world's problems. I went to our writing group from 6-8pm. Everybody is moving along with good projects. I even started back on my Chips story.
6/13/2014 Donita
My long-time good friend died this morning. How she would laugh knowing it was on Friday the 13th. Three of us, Gay, Donita, and I had coffee every Wednesday morning for so many years I don't want to count. Donita was six months older than I. On her 80th birthday in September, 2011, I wrote the following to put in her card.
"On my 40th birthday you wrote that you'd always be ahead of me paving the way, and here you are doing it again. On your 40th birthday, I printed out the words to “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” on my old upright Royal typewriter, listening to the record numerous times so I'd get it right. I don’t think I can do that again, but I’m so glad we stuck around to get old together."
I didn't give you that note, because by then early dementia had set in, and we never knew what your receptive mood would be. I still have the card you gave me on that 40th birthday and an onion-skin copy of the song. Maybe our lives weren't rose gardens, but friends like you made up the good memories. I hope you'll keep paving the way for me. Even if I take another road, I think our paths will cross.
6/14/2014 the lake
Went to the lake to celebrate Fathers' day with Wes and Amy. We sat at a rectangular table for five at the Silver Moon restaurant and Wayne sat at one end. That left an empty chair. I ate too much, but I kept looking at that chair. AmyD was across from me, so that helped. She's such fun to be around, and Wes sat next to me. We steal each other's food sometimes. Forgot to get a piece of his steak.
6/15/2014 why?
Where does the press get the idea that serving in the military during a war makes one an expert on foreign policy. 'Decorated hero' 'wounded in Vietnam' Since when do these adjectives describe an expert in military operations or strategy, or diplomacy between nations. That kind of logic isn't much better than asking them why they didn't duck, or run. It's all irrelevant.
In fact their attitude might run the gauntlet from fear to enter into any military operation again to an equally foolish 'gung ho (also a military term) attitude that 'this is fun, this killing people without punishment'. I believe war occurs, just as any other evil occurs, at random and without reason.
6/17/2014 How?
6/17/2014 How?
How do contributions to politicians get doubled or tripled? As in "Give before 12 midnight and have your contribution doubled."
6/18/2014 Where were you, Bill?
I was thinking I'd never have a good day again, but I think Amy is smiling, because she knew I would. Today was just good from start to end. I had breakfast with Gay this morning. That's always good, sometimes the best of the week.
Went to OfficeMax to get some computer paper and some little stuff, you know, pencils, etc. Of course, whenever I get to someplace that has school or office stuff in it, you can't get me out for at least an hour. Bought a packet of uniball pens, because those were the ones Amy liked. Yes, she could do math with a pen. I can't even do a crossword with a pen.
I stopped at Kroger, and even remembered that I had Kroger coupons they had sent me. First I saw Lynn Gatchell, so of course we had to catch up. She taught Wes at Barnett Shoals. Then I ran into (Not literally, I'm not deadly with the cart.) Sharon Schuff, so we had to catch up and say a few words about Mike and our boys not going to a doctor when they should. I always like to run into Sharon. She kept my son in the know about good cooking. They never came to our house for good food, preferring the Schuffs. She said they're trying to eat healthy foods. Not me, I'm all for ice cream, chocolate turtles, pudding, and whipped cream - not necessarily in that order. With Wes, even school lunches came before my cooking. But guess what, nobody expects me to cook now!? I'm no dummy. While I was talking to Sharon, Chris Butt's dad Bruce joined us, looking for something where we were standing.
Then I was in the freezer section getting just one more thing and I ran into Abbie Thaxton, the woman-of-many-responsibilities, without which the WUGA radio station would not be possible. Bring back Rob and Marykay! I volunteered for some fund drives long ago, and Abbie has been calling me Grandma Chris since I walked in the door.
Where were you, Bill? means Bill Jones. After I retired and stopped seeing him every day, about the only time I saw Bill was when I ran into him (again, no cart injuries involved) at Krogers. He took off and got married though, so I guess I'll have to find him.
Went to my writing group at OCAF at 6. Such a good group. Didn't go out to eat after with the girls, however -- just too tired from a good day.
Goodnight, Amy.
Went to OfficeMax to get some computer paper and some little stuff, you know, pencils, etc. Of course, whenever I get to someplace that has school or office stuff in it, you can't get me out for at least an hour. Bought a packet of uniball pens, because those were the ones Amy liked. Yes, she could do math with a pen. I can't even do a crossword with a pen.
I stopped at Kroger, and even remembered that I had Kroger coupons they had sent me. First I saw Lynn Gatchell, so of course we had to catch up. She taught Wes at Barnett Shoals. Then I ran into (Not literally, I'm not deadly with the cart.) Sharon Schuff, so we had to catch up and say a few words about Mike and our boys not going to a doctor when they should. I always like to run into Sharon. She kept my son in the know about good cooking. They never came to our house for good food, preferring the Schuffs. She said they're trying to eat healthy foods. Not me, I'm all for ice cream, chocolate turtles, pudding, and whipped cream - not necessarily in that order. With Wes, even school lunches came before my cooking. But guess what, nobody expects me to cook now!? I'm no dummy. While I was talking to Sharon, Chris Butt's dad Bruce joined us, looking for something where we were standing.
Then I was in the freezer section getting just one more thing and I ran into Abbie Thaxton, the woman-of-many-responsibilities, without which the WUGA radio station would not be possible. Bring back Rob and Marykay! I volunteered for some fund drives long ago, and Abbie has been calling me Grandma Chris since I walked in the door.
Where were you, Bill? means Bill Jones. After I retired and stopped seeing him every day, about the only time I saw Bill was when I ran into him (again, no cart injuries involved) at Krogers. He took off and got married though, so I guess I'll have to find him.
Went to my writing group at OCAF at 6. Such a good group. Didn't go out to eat after with the girls, however -- just too tired from a good day.
Goodnight, Amy.
6/19/2014 why?
Another child left in a hot car to die today. Marlow, aren't you glad we went in to Eckerds and dragged that poor woman to her locked car when we found the child asleep in it? I wonder if she remembers that.
6/20/2014 duh
I cooked supper/dinner tonight, first time in about a month. Not worth my keep. I don't think l know how to do a journal. This is boring. Maybe l'll do something meaningful before midnight.
6/21/2014 no TV
6/24/2014 still no TV
JULY6/21/2014 no TV
-- and we don't know why. For some strange reason the one downstairs works. Wayne got to watch the Braves anyway.
6/24/2014 still no TV
Started blog post about underwear. This makes me think about Amy. When I was young, yes, that long ago, we called sneakers tennis shoes. Have to look that odd fact up. Amy played serious tennis and she wore Adidas. I never played tennis and I wore tennis shoes. I got mine at Sears two pair at a time for $2.50 each. She called mine screeties. I also ordered bras and she would tease me about getting them from New Zealand. I miss my funny friend so much.
6/25/2014 finally got some news
Charter came at 10 and fixed TVs. Been out since Friday. Evidently I pulled the whole thing (My dad would say, the whole shootin' match, and he never owned a gun.) out from under my computer when I didn't even know it was there. Lots of wires back there. Have a new telephone/internet modem to replace the separate ones.
6/26/2014 long day
Breakfast with Gay. Always good start to the day. Planned to go to writing group at six but had a stomach ache and Billie had a ride with Genie so I stayed home and finished writing a post.
6/26/2014 Amy's letter to the editor
Wayne had lunch with our former neighbor today. We found a letter that Amy wrote when she was eleven. Evidently, some parents, who liked to drop their boy at the pool for baby sitting, got upset when the kid got in trouble. This was when our neighbor was in charge of life guards at Bishop Park. The daddy wrote an anonymous letter to the editor and Amy evidently wanted to come to our neighbor's defense. So she wrote a letter to the editor of the Observer. Why she didn't send it, I don't know. Wayne took it with him. I'm sure there were a couple of grown men with tears in their eyes. So like Amy. Wayne liked the part where she said the people were dumb. I would so like to laugh with her about it. I'm sure she had a reason we didn't even consider.
6/27/2014 Charlie's Suessical
Went to Lawrenceville to the Aurora Theatre to see Charlie in a camp production. Got to see Bam and Emma, too. Of course Charlie was great. Went to La Parilla for supper and ran into Keith and Lisa. Why does that happen? Don't see someone for a long time and then see them twice within a few days.
6/28/2014 nothing to write home about
6/29/2014 ditto
6/30/2014 ditto
6/26/2014 Amy's letter to the editor
Wayne had lunch with our former neighbor today. We found a letter that Amy wrote when she was eleven. Evidently, some parents, who liked to drop their boy at the pool for baby sitting, got upset when the kid got in trouble. This was when our neighbor was in charge of life guards at Bishop Park. The daddy wrote an anonymous letter to the editor and Amy evidently wanted to come to our neighbor's defense. So she wrote a letter to the editor of the Observer. Why she didn't send it, I don't know. Wayne took it with him. I'm sure there were a couple of grown men with tears in their eyes. So like Amy. Wayne liked the part where she said the people were dumb. I would so like to laugh with her about it. I'm sure she had a reason we didn't even consider.
6/27/2014 Charlie's Suessical
Went to Lawrenceville to the Aurora Theatre to see Charlie in a camp production. Got to see Bam and Emma, too. Of course Charlie was great. Went to La Parilla for supper and ran into Keith and Lisa. Why does that happen? Don't see someone for a long time and then see them twice within a few days.
6/28/2014 nothing to write home about
6/29/2014 ditto
6/30/2014 ditto
7/1/2014 Shuler
7/2/2014 long day
Breakfast with Gay. Pedicure and went Krogering. As usual didn't get the right things. Read the middle of Shorty. Up late.
7/3/2014 3rd is the day before the 4th - how profound
Slept until two. List for the lake. We're taking only ice cream. 7/4/2014 lake for 4th celebration
Went to the lake about 11, ate, played with Lumpkin and Nacho. Nacho just wants a lap - any lap. Wes and Amy took the kids out on the boat - Charlie used some kind of raft, not the tube. I got some kind of hot redness in eyes and cheeks. I never think about allegies because I never had them before. Ice cream and other food delicious.
Found out Ginger Butts is in serious condition at Emory and needs a liver transplant.
Charlie came home with us - Beta Beat camp next week.
We're so glad to have him.
7/5/2014 memorial for Donita
Left Charlie here and went to Mick and Donita's lake - nice low country boil - Kit teared up when she looked at me, she had just been asking Gay about the girls, and there
I sat, next - I didn't cry, just started talking about something else, probably Emma - more people there than I thought would be - events like that are necessary, but so damned final.
"We do a poor job of communicating futility." Radiolab today.
7/8/2014 camp for Charles
Second day of camp - seems to like it. He's good about getting up, showering, and ready to go on time.
Ordered birthday flowers for mk. I finished MAYBE NOT III, Radiolab about dying. Also have Friday's post almost done.
Hard to write. Ginger had transplant. Learned something about transplants. If it's a whole body, they have to wait for all recipients to be there and ready before they start to 'harvest.'
So far so good for Ginger. Just wait now. Kids are at home with Chris. Her sister and mother are at Emory with her.
7/9/2014 breakfast with Gay
Always good but Gay had to wait for me. Stomach. Of all times, favorite morning of the week.
Night writing group - such a good group, They inspire me.
Reject from EDF for Pink Angel. Looked up all three editors who made comments. Only found one and that one not connected to writing. Last time five readers, found them all and they really edited. Maybe I'll send email. Sad.
Still waiting for Ginger to wake up -- so far so good. Chris at home with the kids. Wish I could hug him.
7/11/2014 Charlie listening day
Went to Aderhold lab to listen to what kids have been doing all week. Great stuff, They used various sounds (not copyrighted) to create their own four-minute music piece employing software. Have to get those from Charlie.
Sent donation to Carebridge (?)and evidently I'm the count of one.
7/12/2014 slept all day
I don't believe it. I think that's the first time ever. I looked at the clock at 5:07 pm and went back to sleep for another two hours.
Worked on blog tonight and posted.
In Utah they stock lakes by dropping baby fish from airplanes.
Another athlete came out as gay today. Soon there won't be anybody left in the closet. That's so great. Wish Amy were here to see it.
No news is good news about Ginger.
7/19/2014 dinner with millers at la parilla(?)
7/20/2014 closet cleaning
Mainly moved clothes around and put more in the Good Will box. My closets are looking very spare now and I like that. If I put something on and I don't like the way it fits or looks, into the box!
I did some picture 'mining' meaning trying to find the ones I want to use. In the process I managed to clean up files and use meaningful titles - dates slip away from me but I used them on folders until I got the files separated
Ginger in physical therapy now - sounds like things are getting better and better. I think Chris took the kids to the beach. Discovered they call Mary Scott 'Scout' - didn't know that before.
7/21/2014 pictures and post
I think I'll finally get that picture of Charlie at the beach to Kenny.
Read an encouraging article in the NYT about the possibility of the Democratic Party taking back the South with the Black vote. Gee whiz! Been voting with the Democrats in the South for years and didn't know I wasn't supposed to do that, being 'white' and all.
Emma came tonight, but we went to bed early.
7/22/2014 hospital
No big deal. Shuler is going to take the hardware out of my wrist. Went in at noon but had to wait until 1:30+. I didn't even get to feel loopy because the nurse had a kink in the line and I wasn't getting anything until right before we went in for the surgery. At least Emma and I had a chance to talk. She's coming next week so we can do our usual 'school supplies' shoppimg. That was Amy's thing. She and I always did that together and it carried over to the kids. Then before we went, Grandpa would give them money for 'something special.'
7/23/2014 hospital leftovers
Coughed a lot. Don't my lungs know I quit smoking 30 years ago? Arm hurts, but not enough for pain pills. I have wasted the day. Not quite. I sorted the books ln the pie safe. Talked to Bam. Can't wait to hear about the bike ride, Charlie really likes to do that. Maybe he's found a sport with no ball in it.
7/24/2014 hospital leftovers
Not coughing much and wrist doesn't hurt at all. Can remove bandage tomorrow.
Got an email from Marilyn, but will answer downstairs tomorrow. Easier keyboard.
New liver for Ginger late last night. The picture is so clear of that little boy at Kittredge.
7/25/2014 bandage off!
Yes, I took off the bandage as soon as I got up this morning. Bloody! But I cleaned it up and it looks ok. I guess I'll have a small scar on the inside of my wrist, but at least I won't be worrying about splitting a tendon.
Answered Marilyn with more than she wants to read, probably. It would be so nice to have her closer so I could help her for a change. I know Cheryl is trying to give her some time away, but it would be so much easier for me to do it if we lived closer.
Ginger out of surgery, so far so good.
Posted Blogging and Grieving. Got an anonymous comment and it had a note inside referring to the writer. Sweet note.
Have I written yet about my new car?. I guess so because we've had it for awhile, but I keep learning new things about it. Really fancy. Couldn't help but think about how Amy used to take off at night when she got her first car -- the Colt. She'd say she was "going Krogering."
7/26/2014 lazy Saturday
Watched everything on DVR from this week -- then British comedies
When I went to Athens Tech in 1981, there was no real course of study for programming yet. I didn't have to take the core courses because I already had a degree. So when I finished all the coursework in Accounting and Programming there was no ceremony and no graduation, not even a real diploma. All those things came later as the school grew into a real tech school with associate degrees, etc.
On my last day of classes Amy had a single rose sent to me. She knew how much it meant to me, -- called me a bud. I don't even know what that means. She wrote it on the folder that held my flow charting stencil. Now I look back and see this very wise person who was my daughter and I wonder - which one of us was the mom.
7/27/2014 nuffing Sunday
7/28/2014 weisenheimer
Today's word on Visual Thesaurus. Haven't heard it for years, was popular slang when I was young. Means wise guy or smart aleck or wise acre. Now I'll have to look those words up. All are old slang.
7/28/2014 Harper Lee
Today I bought The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee, by Marja Mills.
`
AUGUST
8/2/2014 school shopping
Emma and I spent the day doing our yearly 'school s'plies' shopping. Amy started the tradition with the kids coming here because she loved to go for new school supplies right before the first day of school. Emma and I had a good time shopping, even found a new kind of Microsoft Office for her new computer and a lap top lock! Try to say that one. Then we went to the Olive Garden (sorry you weren't with us, AmyD) I think Emma just went there because she knows I like it, but we both had worked up good appetites.Timed everything perfectly. We were almost home when Wayne called to let us know that Robyn and Erica were on their way to visit. Had a couple of hours of fun with them. Probably was a little boring for Emma, but these were her Mom's good friends from high school and beyond, so it was nice that she was here. Really enjoyed our time with them. Hope Erica will stop in now and then. She works between here and Austin, Texas and where else I don't know. Doctor Robyn Raschke is a professor at UNLV, but she's still just Robyn, still having a good time with life. Amy was lucky in her friendships, but maybe it wasn't luck.
We all miss her.
8/16/2014 various and sundry
I haven't said much this month. Some things have happened, I guess. Emma came to say goodbye, and I didn't even take a picture. We had lunch at her favorite place here, de Palma's, and then she went to say her goodbyes to some friends who will be at UGA this year.
8/17/2014 pictures
I spent a lot of time today going through pictures for the blog post, and I didn't use my head. I already have most of the best ones in frames or in those little books we used fifteen years ago to hold pictures. I could have used those with much less effort. I had to scan them all anyway. I may change some.
8/20/2014 a girl's best friend
I'm so inclined to follow some tidbit of information to where all the other little tidbits are. I catch myself reading something, especially on the internet, that I have lost interest in at least five paragraphs ago. Yet on I read, taking in all the minutia, just because I started to read it and somehow I have to finish it. I'm trying to curb that impulse. Today I started an article on Delancey Place about diamonds, but when I had discerned that the biggest diamond on earth was about the size of a football and that one whole planet in the Milky Way is one big diamond, and that all those diamond bits and pieces of the whole are just carbon that's gone through some natural process. Much ado about a lot of nuthin, and I spent at least twenty minutes reading that. Now you know, too, as much as I do.
8/24/2014 it's a fact
Did you know that some Italian mozzarella cheese is made from Buffalo milk? Lots of rules and regulations with that one. Today my college roommate called. I had called her several times, but never got an answer. She said, "You thought I was dead, didn't you?" I said, "Of course I did. But your phone wasn't disconnected so I had hope."
She hasn't changed a bit, but then that's what we all say. She's going into the hospital on September 16th for back surgery. She's had a lot of trouble for years, and is hoping that this will make the big difference. She's a year younger than I, although we were in the same class. She likes to call me on my birthday and remind me. I'll be thinking about her on the 16th.
I forgot to tell her I still carry the $5 her mother gave me the last time I visited. She was suffering from some dementia and got it in her head that we were still in college and I needed money. I would never part with my lucky five.
I forgot to tell her we bought a new car and it has heated seats. The last time she visited here, she liked our heated seats so much she went home and bought a new car.
Oh, there's so much to tell an old roommate. We met for the first time when they assigned us as roommates in the freshman dormitory, Fell Hall, in 1950. We lived together for three years and stayed friends through all this time. Been thinking about her as Emma starts her college career with a new roommate, also someone she didn't know. Hope it works out for her as well as it did for me. Friends are so important.
8/26/2014 it's a fact
Why are all the doctors in TV ads all women now? Making up for lost time? It will take a little more than that.
8/28/2014 lunch OG
Had lunch with Becky Akins today. We've been trying to get together for months. I'm writing this after the fact and I've seen her site AkinsImages.com. I'd like to do a blog post about it because she has a unique perspective. I've never been one to like slides and views and pictures of places, but I like her choices. SEPTEMBER
9/3/2014 writing group
My favorite word today is canopy. On my way to OCAF for our writing group, I drove through a canopy formed by the oaks that line Simonton Bridge Road near Watkinsville. The trees and the canopy they make are not new to me. I seem to have always had a reason to go to Watkinsville, and since we have always lived in the southeast part of Athens, that road is the shortest way. The trees grow old, and building more houses continues, so every year I fear for the canopy I've grown to love. I read "The Tree" in writing group. They wanted to know if I checked the time it takes for a chain saw to turn off for safety reasons.
9/5/2014 sending day
Why do announcers tell us what we're going to see, then show us, then tell us what we just saw? 'But it is a puzzlement!'I'm determined to get all pictures to my nieces today. Just have to look for comments on back and then pack up. That will be a good thing to have done. I promised them last Christmas.
9/6/2014 nuffing day
We were going to take advantage of the 'recycling' part of the Cedar Creek garage sale day today, but both slept until noon. Maybe we can figure out where to take that stuff between special days for it. I'm sure the ACC would rather have us take it there than put it in the weekly trash pickup. How long do you suppose it will take for the world to be totally inundated with trash? Will it be before the oceans cover us. I keep thinking about the glaciers, will they come after us. I'm making light of a serious subject. Sorry. Not enough persons in positions of power are willing to do something. Jokes sometimes gain attention.Will try to get post out today. That'll be a dandy. That's what Wayne's grandmother said when we wanted to take a picture of her with her great grandchildren. "That'll be a dandy." I've been trying to locate archives for about.com, but as soon as I ask for that, it quickly passes that by and takes me to the current about.com.
Known Unknowns - planning to do a post about this soon, but it will have more about Donald Rumsfield. This one is about art. Don't let the cyclops scare you. Click HERE or you do the work and copy and paste here.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/11072938/Known-Unknowns-Arresting-images-from-a-new-book-by-Charles-Saatchi.html?frame=3025834
9/16/2014 cooking
I made a salad today but I need more than a head of lettuce because I put too much dressing on it: you know -- too much dressing, add lettuce -- too much lettuce, add dressing. In programming, we called that the deadly embrace.I just saw an ad for an oven: This Oven Teaches You To Be a Better Cook. That would probably be a poor investment for me, because miracles aren't for sale.
Barb had her surgery today?
9/17/2014 mice, writing group, and memories
I discovered where the mice had their nest in the basement. Enough said about that. writing group: I read my puzzling emails to them from Meat for Tea. They didn't have many ideas. It's a Puzzlement, perhaps Yul can figure it out.
Memories like this happen everyday. Looking at all the frozen vegetables at Krogers --steamer butterbeans (Green Acres swim team called Amy Butterbean.) I look at the speedometer on Simonton Bridge Road and I'm going 40- speed limit 45. (Amy said I had one speed --40-- whether I was in Green Acres or on the highway.) I pick up my pen at writing group. (It's a Uniball that I bought because Amy told me they're the best.)
9/18/2014 another day
Shadow likes to push things off my desk, and I've rewarded her because if she concentrates on that she stops licking and biting my arm. She thinks I'm another kitten. Now she's getting aggressive and wants to push everything off the desk. Whole piles of papers go flying to the floor. Yesterday she tried to push the stapler off and it's plugged in. Help!
Two things:
- I want to live in a city where the shops and restaurants are downstairs -- little shops where the stuff is expensive so I get to spend a lot of time looking -- and where there's a green grocer who knows what I like -- and where I can buy flowers every day, and maybe a new scarf to hold down my hair when the wind whips through between the buildings. I want a clothesline on a pulley above the alley that I can share with my neighbor in the next building. I want a bathtub with feet, a heavy door that says 5B, a doormat that says WELCOME, and no scary elevator.
- I want to wear saddle shoes again. I was happy most of the time when I wore saddle shoes. The grief started then, but I didn't know what it was, so I pushed it away and went back to being happy when I wore my saddle shoes. Nobody teaches you grief, and if they try, don't listen. You have to figure it out for yourself. Everybody does it but nobody knows how. It's mostly stumbling around in the dark. Crying's good, but it isn't a cure. Reminiscing is good, but it isn't a cure. Writing helps if you don't need a reader, but it isn't a cure. Lashing out at other people gets rid of some pent up feelings, but it isn't a cure. Staying busy and being with people you like is the #1 good, but it isn't a cure. I guess there is no cure, so put on your saddle shoes and you'll be happy most of the time.
9/19/2014 Friday
I cleaned up a chocolate stain in the rug beside my chair. Boring! While the thing was running, I picked up stuff and now I feel better. I keep losing things.
I'm writing a letter to Emma. It's already about 4 pages.I cleaned up a chocolate stain in the rug beside my chair. Boring! While the thing was running, I picked up stuff and now I feel better. I keep losing things.
Finished and ready to mail.
Grandpa is fixing a roast. Smells good from here.
9/20/2014 Saturday
Cleaned up more spots on the hall carpet and living room.
Sent Becky a note to see if I can write about Akins Images.9/21/2014 Sunday
Read most of NYT Book Review. Bought The Trial and put on my wishing list a new book, Kafka's Law: "The Trial" and American Criminal Justice.
I've started the book about Harper Lee, by Marja Mills. The Mockingbird Next Door, Life with Harper Lee. Good, easy and keeps the attention. This week Harper Lee, at 88, wrote a letter, stating, "Rest assured, as long as I am alive any book purporting to be with my cooperation is a falsehood." Don't know what to think. Book seems to be legitimate.
Went through old pictures and found a better one of Scotty and one of me in saddle shoes. Scanned them and uploaded them to the posts.
9/20/2014 Bam is coming to visit
I'm sleepy. Updated my entry for yesterday, scanned and uploaded pictures. Need to finish my letter to Emma, and figure out how to do an envelope again. Haven't done any mailing for a long time.
Bam is coming after lunch with an old friend. Always love to see her.
We reminisced about the kids. Will never forget the day we found out in the same moment that Emma isn't perfect.
9/22/2014 Monday, yuk
Have to wash rugs and pick up. Celine is coming to visit.
9/23/2014 doctor
Yearly appointment with surgeon. I don't know why. I don't have any more breasts.
9/24/2014 writing and reading day
Listened to an hour-long radiolab as research for this week's blog. Hope I can get it written tomorrow. Charlie is coming for the weekend. Yea!
9/25/2014 a day
Haircut, pedicure, third place to get my phone moved over to new cell phone provider. It was already done. Will call tomorrow and get it turned on. I get to keep Siri - very important for notes and texting.
Got an email about a contest for a 150-word flash fiction contest. I can't do that. Maybe I can do that. I just did that. Now to give it a title. The Stream ??
I read it tonight for writing group. They all write long stuff, and most of it really good. Paige read a neat chapter about the chicken lady. We are inundated with chickens in this class. Larry still hasn't told us who the lady with the big butt is. Bob read a very sweet short story, and Teresa read an interesting chapter in the 'wolves' saga. She needs to settle. She's too good to keep meandering.
9/27/2014 remembering
While working on the post of 'things' something reminded me of Wes's decision that he could no longer say Ls or Rs. He went from ability to inability to say those two letters in about two days. We tried for a few days to figure it out and correct him. As soon as we heard his new friend from down the street talk, we knew, but what on earth made his five-year-old mind decide that was a good idea. We let it go, and he was soon back to saying Ls and Rs.
9/30/2014 coincidences
Did you ever notice that if you encounter something, it seems that you will encounter it again within a short time. I had never heard the term 'pot hunters' until I read Beverly Connor's book Skeleton Crew. Then yesterday I ran across it again when I was listening to the radiolab.org episode 'things." It has more than one meaning, but the one I found in both these places was a description for people who go digging in old sites and then take whatever they find, not bothering to discover the meaning or value of the find
OCTOBER
10/2/2014 happy birthday friend
My favorite word today is birthday. I'd never get to have coffee on Wednesday mornings if she hadn't had a birthday.
10/3/2014 a few days
I don't usually go back when I've missed a few days, but this time I can say the days were all alike except for the mouse. Wayne went to Illinois to his 65th high school reunion. I'm so glad I didn't go. I would have spoiled it for him and he had a really good time.
10/6/2014 SCOTUS decision
Charles and Marykay were coming to go out to dinner and celebrate Charlie's birthday, but when I answered the door, it wasn't Marykay with Charles. It was Emma. They've been planning this surprise and everyone was in on it. It was so nice. After visiting for a few hours, Charles took his computer close to the router downstairs, Emma fell asleep on the couch, Wayne and I fell asleep in our chairs.
When we all woke up, Charles got to choose the restaurant because it was his birthday. He chose Red Lobster. Emma was going to visit Azure and John who are going to UGA and thought they might want to go out for dinner, but she said "I can go out twice." She had soup with us, but wasn't there when they came over to sing Happy Birthday to Charles. Thanks, Grandpa. She stayed overnight with her friend, but she got Charles in the morning so she could get to Atlanta in time to go to the Ga State-Ga Southern football game. She has friends at both schools. It was so nice to see her happy. She has been homesick, but I asked her if she was also anxious to get back to school, and she said yes, so everything is good. Now I can stop wondering if she's happy.
10/25/2014 peroration
What a great word. I'm going to expand the definition to include the peroration of life, as the state in which you want to control the state which comes after the peroration.
10/19/2014 downsizing
Spent hours collecting papers from files to take to the big shredding opportunity at the mall on the 25th.
10/24/2014 escape
I can't escape. Grief follows me. I talk to the cat. She likes that almost as much as hunting bugs, but I look at her long whiskers and see a very little girl at the veterinarian with two kittens and her big sister. The vet says , " I see these kittens have had their whiskers cut." I hadn't noticed, but Amy looked at Julie and Julie looked at Amy. Not another word was said about whiskers.Charles and Marykay were coming to go out to dinner and celebrate Charlie's birthday, but when I answered the door, it wasn't Marykay with Charles. It was Emma. They've been planning this surprise and everyone was in on it. It was so nice. After visiting for a few hours, Charles took his computer close to the router downstairs, Emma fell asleep on the couch, Wayne and I fell asleep in our chairs.
When we all woke up, Charles got to choose the restaurant because it was his birthday. He chose Red Lobster. Emma was going to visit Azure and John who are going to UGA and thought they might want to go out for dinner, but she said "I can go out twice." She had soup with us, but wasn't there when they came over to sing Happy Birthday to Charles. Thanks, Grandpa. She stayed overnight with her friend, but she got Charles in the morning so she could get to Atlanta in time to go to the Ga State-Ga Southern football game. She has friends at both schools. It was so nice to see her happy. She has been homesick, but I asked her if she was also anxious to get back to school, and she said yes, so everything is good. Now I can stop wondering if she's happy.
10/24/2014 shoes
On the cover of Time magazine there's a picture of a walking, exiting foot with a blue pant leg and a black high heeled shoe. Is it only I who says "No way would a woman wear a black shoe with navy blue?" Ergo, man constructed Time cover this week. Men only buy two colors of shoes, black and brown. Women buy those two, and navy blue, and white, and tan and a rainbow of shoe colors to match clothes. At least now purse and shoes don't have to match. It took me a long time to adjust to that.10/25/2014 peroration
10/26/2014 Amy
She was the dearest, sweetest, and most stubborn kid that ever lived. She thought things through, but once she made up her mind, nothing would convince her to change it. I miss her smile, her spirit, her gentleness and even that streak of intransigence.
When she was about twelve, she wanted to build a car. She got some plywood and talked me into locating wheels. I found 2 sets of wheels, maybe 10'' diameter, each on about a four foot axel. She built her car around them. I think that was the first thing she built that didn't work. My heart broke when I saw it fall apart when she put it out on the road. In my head I have these sweet snippets of scenes. Just as I can still see her first white bicycle waiting for us at Macy's, I can still see her crying into the sofa when she got her red ten-speed, and I can see the car fall apart. It's funny the way our memories work. Realistically, there was probably a bit of a dustup over picking up all that stuff.
One day recently she drove over to surprise us and found no one home. She had a key, but when her dad came home she was sitting on the deck. He knew right away that she was sitting there worrying because he was alone. Actually, I was in the hospital, but it's a funny story, not a bad one.
I woke up early that morning and realized right away that I had a swollen tongue. At first, my silly, sleepy side thought it was somehow twisted in my mouth and I tried to turn it. Then I got Wayne up with some rendition of 'emergency room.' It's very difficult to talk when your tongue is swollen. I was breathing okay, but I knew I had to get to the hospital.
I've had the swollen lip and the swollen tongue variety of anaphylaxis, and I guess the next time will be the throat swelling and serious consequences. I now carry an epipen.
I'm sure that emergency room receptionist was a little shocked, when I tried to talk to her with that swollen tongue. She got me in right away and they put me on an IV with some steroid, and gradually the swelling went down.
I do remember that they did a scan and one little hospital doctor kept talking about a tracheotomy, but I could breathe fine. As usual the nurses knew what to do. The scan didn't turn out, so he wanted to take another one, and I said, "No. The swelling is going down, I can breathe, and I'm not usually this silly." The nurses kept asking me, "Now what are you going to do if this happens again?" The correct answer was "Call 911."
Amy came up to the hospital and stayed with me the rest of the time. In the evening they gave me some sleep medication, and Amy rubbed my back until I fell asleep. That was the first time that had ever happened and it was so nice, I remember being groggy and trying to talk to her and she had to tell me to be quiet.
I have such wonderful memories of my daughter. I'm so lucky. After she died, I thought that maybe it would be easier now if ours had been one of those mother/daughter relationships that was distant or troubled, even antagonistic, but I decided that would be awful. The memories bring tears, but even the times we argued over something could turn into laughing. I remember one time that she was home from college for the weekend. I can't tell you what our argument was about, but we wound up on the carport using a 12-foot long carpet tube as a doo-dee-doo, and I cut my face on it laughing. It was heavy! As usual, she was the one who could handle it. I think we were fighting over keys.
I had migraine headaches from about my thirties until some time in my sixties when they blessed me by leaving permanently. When Amy was home, if I had one, she would make me sit on the floor in front of her chair and she would comb my hair. Later they came up with something for migraines other than pain medication, but nothing was as relaxing as Amy combing my hair like that.
She said once that she finally figured out the fact that if she wanted to do something or buy something and she didn't want to tell us about it, that was probably a clue not to do it.
First example, Ford Ranger. She was making payments on her Honda, and they were a little steep. Instead of talking to us about it, she let some car salesman talk her into trading in her Honda for the truck with payments of 88 dollars a month.
That truck turned out to be a loser all around. The truck was long gone and she was still making payments because she was determined to finish her obligation. I don't know how much she paid in interest long term, but she never bought from Ford again.
I can't talk yet about any of the things I did for her because I loved her, but maybe one day I can. There's one example that tells how much I would give in to her, and she knew it. We used to play monopoly over holidays. No matter who was here for the holidays, we always got into a game. Inevitably, I would be ahead of her with properties she needed. She would plead and beg, well I guess those are the same thing, but anyway, I would always give in and sell her the property, then she would trounce me.
One of the last things she said to me was that she decided she was mad at Julie for leaving her. I thought that was a healthy way to look at her feelings. In fact, I was a little mad at her myself. Now Amy is where Julie has been for a long time, but I can't find either one of them.
NOVEMBERWhen she was about twelve, she wanted to build a car. She got some plywood and talked me into locating wheels. I found 2 sets of wheels, maybe 10'' diameter, each on about a four foot axel. She built her car around them. I think that was the first thing she built that didn't work. My heart broke when I saw it fall apart when she put it out on the road. In my head I have these sweet snippets of scenes. Just as I can still see her first white bicycle waiting for us at Macy's, I can still see her crying into the sofa when she got her red ten-speed, and I can see the car fall apart. It's funny the way our memories work. Realistically, there was probably a bit of a dustup over picking up all that stuff.
One day recently she drove over to surprise us and found no one home. She had a key, but when her dad came home she was sitting on the deck. He knew right away that she was sitting there worrying because he was alone. Actually, I was in the hospital, but it's a funny story, not a bad one.
I woke up early that morning and realized right away that I had a swollen tongue. At first, my silly, sleepy side thought it was somehow twisted in my mouth and I tried to turn it. Then I got Wayne up with some rendition of 'emergency room.' It's very difficult to talk when your tongue is swollen. I was breathing okay, but I knew I had to get to the hospital.
I've had the swollen lip and the swollen tongue variety of anaphylaxis, and I guess the next time will be the throat swelling and serious consequences. I now carry an epipen.
I'm sure that emergency room receptionist was a little shocked, when I tried to talk to her with that swollen tongue. She got me in right away and they put me on an IV with some steroid, and gradually the swelling went down.
I do remember that they did a scan and one little hospital doctor kept talking about a tracheotomy, but I could breathe fine. As usual the nurses knew what to do. The scan didn't turn out, so he wanted to take another one, and I said, "No. The swelling is going down, I can breathe, and I'm not usually this silly." The nurses kept asking me, "Now what are you going to do if this happens again?" The correct answer was "Call 911."
Amy came up to the hospital and stayed with me the rest of the time. In the evening they gave me some sleep medication, and Amy rubbed my back until I fell asleep. That was the first time that had ever happened and it was so nice, I remember being groggy and trying to talk to her and she had to tell me to be quiet.
I have such wonderful memories of my daughter. I'm so lucky. After she died, I thought that maybe it would be easier now if ours had been one of those mother/daughter relationships that was distant or troubled, even antagonistic, but I decided that would be awful. The memories bring tears, but even the times we argued over something could turn into laughing. I remember one time that she was home from college for the weekend. I can't tell you what our argument was about, but we wound up on the carport using a 12-foot long carpet tube as a doo-dee-doo, and I cut my face on it laughing. It was heavy! As usual, she was the one who could handle it. I think we were fighting over keys.
I had migraine headaches from about my thirties until some time in my sixties when they blessed me by leaving permanently. When Amy was home, if I had one, she would make me sit on the floor in front of her chair and she would comb my hair. Later they came up with something for migraines other than pain medication, but nothing was as relaxing as Amy combing my hair like that.
She said once that she finally figured out the fact that if she wanted to do something or buy something and she didn't want to tell us about it, that was probably a clue not to do it.
First example, Ford Ranger. She was making payments on her Honda, and they were a little steep. Instead of talking to us about it, she let some car salesman talk her into trading in her Honda for the truck with payments of 88 dollars a month.
That truck turned out to be a loser all around. The truck was long gone and she was still making payments because she was determined to finish her obligation. I don't know how much she paid in interest long term, but she never bought from Ford again.
I can't talk yet about any of the things I did for her because I loved her, but maybe one day I can. There's one example that tells how much I would give in to her, and she knew it. We used to play monopoly over holidays. No matter who was here for the holidays, we always got into a game. Inevitably, I would be ahead of her with properties she needed. She would plead and beg, well I guess those are the same thing, but anyway, I would always give in and sell her the property, then she would trounce me.
One of the last things she said to me was that she decided she was mad at Julie for leaving her. I thought that was a healthy way to look at her feelings. In fact, I was a little mad at her myself. Now Amy is where Julie has been for a long time, but I can't find either one of them.
10/26/2014 nuffing Sunday
10/28/2014 anniversary 59
We decided to celebrate by going to a new restaurant in the neighborhood. I got the only two things on the menu that I could possibly order, and I don't think we'll go back. But it was a nice evening out. I took him 59 years to earn the title of Mouse-catcher 1st Class.
10/31/2014 Shadow
Ever, since she caught that mouse, she's been different. She has about six little felt mice, three of them about the size of a real mouse. She plays with them more, chases around with one in her mouth. The noises she makes, wouldn't scare a flea, but there is a lot of intensity that wasn't there before.
11/1/2014 JAX Georgia/Florida Football
Sad day for Georgia. Good day at the lake this afternoon with Nacho and Lumpkin, oh, and Wes and Amy, too.I can stay up late and sleep late tomorrow.
11/2/2014 observation
Wayne has trouble finding things. He couldn't find the broom in the storage closet off the carport. I know I've said many times that everything reminds me of Amy -- even the broom. Once she was with me at the store and I embarrassed her by trying out a broom in the store aisle. Was still teasing me about it years later. It had a plastic cover on the 'whisk' part. I thought it was a perfectly rational thing to do.
11/2/2014 melancholy day
It's really cold today -- ear muffs and fur-lined gloves cold. I went out twice. Fool.
I have new prosthetics. It takes me a while. I had to have a heavy one when the first breast came off, but now that they're both gone (2011 that's what I mean by a while.) so I can go 32A if I want to, well, maybe 42B. I can also have a drink now and then. Migraines plagued me until my sixties and alcohol of any kind would trigger one, so I just didn't drink. That was twenty years ago and it just lately occurred to me that a drink or two could be in my present and future. Brings me memories of my dad, a pipe, and roll-your-own cigarettes, but I definitely won't go down that path again.
delanceyplace.com has a good book excerpt today from Drunk Tank Pink by Adam Alter. Gloomy days help us think
more deeply and clearly. Who would have thunk it?
11/28/2014 Our Thanksgiving Day
Wes brought the food from Matthews in Atlanta (Decatur?) as he did last year. There were only six of us, Charles, Emma, Wes, and Amy. We had a good dinner. I had to do the first two steps of the mashed potatoes, because the kids didn't come until Friday morning. Emma finished them -- almost as good as Mommy's! It was Amy's job always, to make the mashed potatoes and gravy. Emma claimed it. The last couple of years, the middle aged kids did all the work.
No falling down this year, but I did end the month with what I thought was arthritis in my ankle.
11/29/2014 Ferguson
We watched and waited for the aftermath of the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Mo. There's a sickness in the land that such a decision can be shepherded through a grand jury with such a simple thing as using an old law, changed by the Supreme Court twenty-nine years ago, which told the jurors that a policeman was justified in shooting a suspect if he FELT THREATENED. Not surprising that SCOTUS changed it to the criteria of PROBABLE CAUSE FOR FEELING THREATENED from just feeling threatened. We always say this after the mistake is made, "Well, we know we have to fix that law now." 29 years The DA should have recused himself for many reasons, and the governor should have appointed a special prosecutor. "Mistakes were made." That's their mantra. Michael Brown is dead. We know about mistakes. We all make them, but because of this one, the police officer who killed Michael Brown will not go to trial. Mistakes were made. Young black men continue to pay the price for those mistakes. 29 years.
DECEMBER
12/1/2014 arthritis?
I can't walk. Right foot very painful. I'm watching TV and playing Solitaire. It was sore last weekend, but I had a couple of sample Celebrex tablets that Dr. Butt had given me. It worked then, so I'm trying to get a prescription for some. Didn't realize they were so hard to get. Then the holidays were here and it wasn't too bad. I could walk most of the time.
12/3/2014 arthritis?
I can't walk. Right foot worse.
Now it's impossible and I'm still working on that prescription. Between the pharmacy and the doctor's office I can't seem to get beyond, "You need a 'prior authorization.'" Huh? Appointment with the doctor tomorrow.
12/4/2014 gout
I can't walk. Wayne took me to the doctor. Right foot stays the same. Not arthritis. I have that in other joints, but this foot is gout. Isn't that just fancy arthritis caused by too much uric acid. Yes, Mayo Clinic says 'complex form of arthritis.' I asked the doctor if that means I'm Royalty or extremely intelligent. Not a good diagnosis in spite of its heritage. No trouble getting the prescription in writing, along with pain medication and prednizone. Pharmacy still can't provide the medication because I need the prior authorization from the insurance company for medicare. Luckily the pain medication worked for the time being. I hate that stuff.
12/5/2014 gout
I can't walk. I have a small pillow for under my foot in the kitchen and I'm using a cane. On the phone with the insurance company early, and called the doctor's office as soon as they were open and told them how to get the authorization. I think they have someone new in the office. The receptionist was great. We got it done and they called me from the pharmacy, so I went to pick it up. Wayne playing poker today or he would have picked it up for me. Wouldn't you know it, the foot stopped hurting sometime this afternoon. At least now I won't say it was the medicine. I guess that's the way gout is.
12/6/2014 gout gone
I can walk. I'm going to take the medicine anyway. At least the prednizone and the celebrex. The foot is still slightly swollen. Don't you just love a journal entry about medical issues from an old woman?
Today I'm working on a blog entry. I took November off for a lot of reasons, among them the fact that Amy is still dead and it has been over a year. Why am I worse now than I was then when I was just numb? I'm going to write about this kind of grief someday. I can't stand watching the parents of Michael Brown, or Trayvon Martin, or the twelve-year-old who was playing 'cops and robbers' in the park and a real cop drove up beside him and shot him. The child damned near skipped up to the police car. The two police in the car said they thought he was about forty. He was twelve. He's dead.
USA Control? We have a problem.
12/8/2014 walking, walking
I tried to shop today. I walked all over the place and found almost nothing on my list. Tired. I ran into (no injuries) Donna McGinty at the store, Kroger's of course, and got to tell her how much I liked her book, and I did. It's called Habitat for Murder, well done. Can't wait for her next one. She said she'd like for me to read it for input before publishing. I'm flattered. She writes so well
12/9/2014 home cleaning and sorting
I'm still taking the prednizone Guess that's why I have so much extra energy, so I'll use it until I lose it and go back to being old. Closets are looking good. Worked on the letter to another doctor, Dr. X -- difficult but necessary.
12/10/2014 still moving fast
Gay and I had coffee this morning, always a highlight of my week. We can be serious, but we laugh a lot! I went to the drugstore after that and found everything on my list -- and then some -- as my mom would say.
Why is it I can think of funny or interesting things to write in my journal until I start to write. I need a little pocket recorder. Iphone notes? Too heavy to carry in my pocket, and I like new toys.
12/11/2014 still moving fast, but slowing down
Piscatorial is the new word on Visual Thesaurus today. Not one for finding an easy synonym. Think Zodiac.
delanceyplace.com is showlighting a new book out by Dave Letterman's band director. We'll Be Here For the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin' Show-biz Saga by Paul Shaffer. The excerpt from the book is about Sammy Davis Jr. and the excerpt is called 'Take Your Time.' Delightful read. Don't miss it.
12/12/2014 still moving, but slower
My dad always said I'd be tall if I didn't have so much turned up in feet. Ha! I knew he was just teasing -- and wrong. I've shrunk three inches in height, but my feet are only a half size longer. Is there some kind of mathematical formula for that?
2014 ENDS HEREI can't walk. Right foot very painful. I'm watching TV and playing Solitaire. It was sore last weekend, but I had a couple of sample Celebrex tablets that Dr. Butt had given me. It worked then, so I'm trying to get a prescription for some. Didn't realize they were so hard to get. Then the holidays were here and it wasn't too bad. I could walk most of the time.
12/3/2014 arthritis?
I can't walk. Right foot worse.
Now it's impossible and I'm still working on that prescription. Between the pharmacy and the doctor's office I can't seem to get beyond, "You need a 'prior authorization.'" Huh? Appointment with the doctor tomorrow.
12/4/2014 gout
I can't walk. Wayne took me to the doctor. Right foot stays the same. Not arthritis. I have that in other joints, but this foot is gout. Isn't that just fancy arthritis caused by too much uric acid. Yes, Mayo Clinic says 'complex form of arthritis.' I asked the doctor if that means I'm Royalty or extremely intelligent. Not a good diagnosis in spite of its heritage. No trouble getting the prescription in writing, along with pain medication and prednizone. Pharmacy still can't provide the medication because I need the prior authorization from the insurance company for medicare. Luckily the pain medication worked for the time being. I hate that stuff.
12/5/2014 gout
I can't walk. I have a small pillow for under my foot in the kitchen and I'm using a cane. On the phone with the insurance company early, and called the doctor's office as soon as they were open and told them how to get the authorization. I think they have someone new in the office. The receptionist was great. We got it done and they called me from the pharmacy, so I went to pick it up. Wayne playing poker today or he would have picked it up for me. Wouldn't you know it, the foot stopped hurting sometime this afternoon. At least now I won't say it was the medicine. I guess that's the way gout is.
12/6/2014 gout gone
I can walk. I'm going to take the medicine anyway. At least the prednizone and the celebrex. The foot is still slightly swollen. Don't you just love a journal entry about medical issues from an old woman?
Today I'm working on a blog entry. I took November off for a lot of reasons, among them the fact that Amy is still dead and it has been over a year. Why am I worse now than I was then when I was just numb? I'm going to write about this kind of grief someday. I can't stand watching the parents of Michael Brown, or Trayvon Martin, or the twelve-year-old who was playing 'cops and robbers' in the park and a real cop drove up beside him and shot him. The child damned near skipped up to the police car. The two police in the car said they thought he was about forty. He was twelve. He's dead.
USA Control? We have a problem.
12/8/2014 walking, walking
I tried to shop today. I walked all over the place and found almost nothing on my list. Tired. I ran into (no injuries) Donna McGinty at the store, Kroger's of course, and got to tell her how much I liked her book, and I did. It's called Habitat for Murder, well done. Can't wait for her next one. She said she'd like for me to read it for input before publishing. I'm flattered. She writes so well
12/9/2014 home cleaning and sorting
I'm still taking the prednizone Guess that's why I have so much extra energy, so I'll use it until I lose it and go back to being old. Closets are looking good. Worked on the letter to another doctor, Dr. X -- difficult but necessary.
12/10/2014 still moving fast
Gay and I had coffee this morning, always a highlight of my week. We can be serious, but we laugh a lot! I went to the drugstore after that and found everything on my list -- and then some -- as my mom would say.
Why is it I can think of funny or interesting things to write in my journal until I start to write. I need a little pocket recorder. Iphone notes? Too heavy to carry in my pocket, and I like new toys.
12/11/2014 still moving fast, but slowing down
Piscatorial is the new word on Visual Thesaurus today. Not one for finding an easy synonym. Think Zodiac.
delanceyplace.com is showlighting a new book out by Dave Letterman's band director. We'll Be Here For the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin' Show-biz Saga by Paul Shaffer. The excerpt from the book is about Sammy Davis Jr. and the excerpt is called 'Take Your Time.' Delightful read. Don't miss it.
12/12/2014 still moving, but slower
My dad always said I'd be tall if I didn't have so much turned up in feet. Ha! I knew he was just teasing -- and wrong. I've shrunk three inches in height, but my feet are only a half size longer. Is there some kind of mathematical formula for that?
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