A mystery

 A big, heavy package was delivered from Amazon yesterday.  I couldn't think what I had ordered except a few pair of slacks, which were supposed to have been delivered by August 23.  I couldn't imagine why the box was so big and so heavy.

As I started to open it, I realized that it was cold and I found two big bags of ice-like substances, which explains why the package was cold...but what was the actual package??

I finally got through all the packing and found a lovely heart shaped box of Godiva chocolates. There was no note other than "I hope you like your gift."  Near as I could figure, the "gift" had come from Amazon, but why?

I checked my orders to see if perhaps I had inadvertently ordered it (though I don't have a clue how I could have done that), but there was no order for chocolates on my record.

I put a note on Facebook, hoping that someone on FB had sent it and would own up to it, but all the comments I got were to just go ahead and enjoy the chocolates (which I was doing!)

I gave up trying to figure out where it came from, but later in the evening it occurred to me that perhaps my swap partner for the "Happy Mailbox All Month August 23" had sent it.  It was a swap where you send "something" (letters, gifts, etc) once a week for the month.  I had received several things from her and the month was over, but I took a chance and wrote to her.  And yes, she sent the candy.  She said she had written a note, but Amazon didn't include it in the package.

It's kind of sad that I figured it out because it was fun wondering where this mysterious gift had come from, but I'm glad that I did, so I could thank her.  Sadly, I was eating too much of it, so sent the box up to Ned and Marta's apartment and told Walt if he wanted chocolate he could get it from them.  But what I had eaten up to that point was delicious.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

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Being a Grown Up

There is a meme I've seen on Facebook a few times.  It says something like when you're a kid you can't wait to be a grown up so you can go to bed whenever you want after 9 p.m. and when you're a grown up you realize that when you want to go to sleep is about 9 p.m.

I think about that when we're  watching Jeopardy, which comes on at 7 p.m. here.  It's followed by Wheel of Fortune, which I don't particularly like, but which get me through to whatever shows are on at 8 p.m.

With the writers' strike, there aren't a heck of a lot of new shows on at 8 p.m.  Our DVD records a whole evening of The Office, which Ned has set to record, and not much else.  I watch things on our DVD or watch cooking shows but I watch the clock, hoping it will quickly get to 9:45 so I can go to sleep.

I'm ready to go to sleep at 9 but realize that if I sleep at 9, I will wake up before midnight and not be able to go back to sleep, so I try to find something on TV that will last until 10 p.m.  So I can wake up at midnight and do Wordle and the 1SE for the day.  

Thank goodness for Food Network competitions.  

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

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Ned & Marta are home

I slept until 7 this morning and woke up to the smell of coffee.

That's one thing I miss when Ned's not here.  He almost always wakes up before I do and gets the coffee made so that when I wake up, coffee is all ready for me and all I have to do is pour myself a cup.  This past weekend, I had to make coffee four days.  So it was great to wake up to the smell of coffee this morning.

He, Marta and Phil, who had flown out from Brasil to help Ned celebrate his birthday at Lake Tahoe, arrived here around 3 yesterday afternoon.  It was a surprise to me, since I expected him to arrive on Tuesday and had made plans for dinner for Walt and me. I'll tell ya, my brain just isn't here these days.

They brought leftovers which we had for dinner, and I'll cook the pork chops for dinner tonight, since Ned and Phil are going in to Sacramento for dinner with a friend and then out to the airport to send Phil home to Boston.

Bubba was thrilled that Ned and Marta were home.

He didn't know what to do at night while they were gone, since he usually sleeps in bed with them.  Walt can't let him into his bedroom because he is hooked up to oxygen and Bubba can get into the cords.  Sometimes he would sleep with me, but didn't really like it and I'd wake up in the morning and find him asleep in his little bed on a futon in the living room.  But I didn't see him at all last night.

They stopped at a bakery on the way home and picked up a berry pie, which we shared for dessert after dinner

It's been a very short visit with Phil, but he was happy to be here for Ned's birthday...and to see Ned with the guitar that Phil made for him.

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Busy Day

I slept in until 7 this morning (late for me) and then around 11, Walt took me to Kaiser for my second shingles shot.  We also stopped at the lab for me to get blood testing.  Then home.

Ned bought pork chops for us for dinner and so I asked Walt to pick apples so I could make applesauce. (remember The Brady Bunch -- "pork chops and applesauce.")   I remember so fondly my mother sitting with a bowl in her lap, peeling apples with a knife, being able to peel an entire apple without breaking the skin.  I hate peeling apples but the last pie I made, where I used apple chunks (unpeeled) wasn't really very good, so I peeled the apples for the applesauce.  I should have used a recipe.  I think I used too much cinnamon and I got so involved with the Hulu show, Secret Chef, that I didn't check on it soon enough.  I managed to save it from burning, but just barely.  It's too dark, but I think that's from the cinnamon.  I didn't use much sugar because the apples themselves are sweetish.

Anyway, it will go well with the pork chops, assuming I don't ruin the pork chops!

* * * *

Secret Chef is a weird cooking competition.  If you are into cooking shows, and if you get Hulu, I recommend checking it out.  It's much different from any cooking competition I've ever seen and while I didn't intended to binge watch it, I pretty much did, over 2 days.  If you don't get Hulu, at least Google the show and read what it says about it.

Speaking of Google, I've been having such a terrible time trying to find anything on Google, with all the ads and if you're looking for something, it will be maybe the 5th thing in the list and won't give you what you are looking for.

A pen pal of mine said she no longer uses Google and uses Bing instead.  Oh my word.  Why have I not been using Bing all these years?  Ask for Tulsa, OK and you get a page about Tulsa, OK...you don't get dozens of sites for tours of Tulsa, and famous sites in Tulsa, before you actually get anything about the city itself.  I hardly use Google at all any more.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

Ned has taught Bubba a trick

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Sunday Stealing

 Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves.

Stolen from Swap Bot

1. If animals could talk, which one do you think would complain the most about their day?
Coyotes would complain about all the houses that have been built in what was once their home.

2. What do you think cats dream about during their epic naps?
They dream about waking up, so that they can go back to sleep again.

3. If squirrels organized an Olympics, what events would they have?
digging for nuts, racing up a tree to get away from a dog, nest building

4. Do you think penguins ever get jealous of birds that can fly?
I think penguins are too busy to even think about birds that can fly.

5. If animals had their own social media, what kind of posts would we see from them?
They'd call it Twitter and post "tweets."  (Oh?  That's been done before?)

6. What would be the title of the autobiography of a lazy house cat?
"Looking for a patch of sun"

7. If you had to choose an animal to be your personal bodyguard, which one would you pick?
Lassie, of course.  She (he) could understand everything and do anything that didn't involve opposable thumbs.

8. Do you think dogs secretly judge us for not being able to sniff out everything they can?
I'm not sure dogs judge us, but they may wonder why we can't smell what they can.

9. If animals could wear clothes, which animal would have the best fashion sense?
The penguin already wears a tuxedo.  The peacock has a neat bunch of feathers.

10. If a group of owls started a band, what would their music style be?
Anything that doesn't require fingers.  Maybe a barbershop quartet.

11. What do dolphins think when people swim with them?
"I wonder what it would be like to walk on land..."

12. What do you think squirrels gossip about when they chatter to each other in the trees?
"when do you think someone will give us something to eat."  "How many holes did you dig today?" "Can you still climb a tree fast enough to stay away from the dog?"

13. If elephants played hide-and-seek, where do you think they'd hide?
Actually, given that they are very large animals, it's amazing how well they are hidden when they move through the bushes

14. What do you imagine a llama would say if you asked it about the meaning of life?
Not sure it would say anything; it would just spit at me.

15. If you could swap places with any animal for a day, which one would it be, and why?
I very much wanted to be my mother's dog.  That dog got pampered, loved, and ice cream every night.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

Ned has taught Bubba a trick

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Saturday 9

 

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here are today's questions!

Saturday 9: My Sharona (1979)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) The Knack's lead singer Doug Fieger wrote this song for his girlfriend, Sharona Alperin. That's Sharona on the record sleeve shown here. Who took the most recent photo of you?
I did.  A selfie.

2) Today Sharona Alperin is a realtor in Southern California. (The photo on her website is more demure than the record sleeve.) She specializes in high-end properties. Have you ever attended an open house, not because you were interested in purchasing the property but because you were curious about the inside?
No.

3) Doug Fieger's brother is Geoffrey Fieger, a prominent attorney in Detroit. Have you ever consulted a lawyer?
We saw an attorney to get our will drawn up.  I also worked for an attorney for a year or more.

 

4) The Knack's record producer was Jimmy Miller, who also worked with The Rolling Stones. What's your favorite Rolling Stones song?
Not a Rolling Stones fan.

 

5) In 1994, more than a decade after its initial release, "My Sharona" became popular with a new audience because it was included on the soundtrack of the movie Reality Bites. What's the most recent movie you watched?
The most recent movie we watched in the theater was the most recent Indiana Jones movie.  The most recent movie I watched on TV was Puzzle on STARZ, which is a surprisingly entertaining movie about how learning to work puzzles change a woman's life.

6) President George W. Bush said he loved listening to "My Sharona" on his headphones while riding his bike. Do you often have music on when you exercise?

(a) I don't exercise, (b) if I did, I wouldn't have music on.

 

7) In 1979, when this song was popular, the CBS TV show Alice was a hit. It was about a widowed mom who made ends meet working in a diner. Have you ever worked at a restaurant?
No.

 

8) Also in 1979, the Voyager spacecraft sent back photos of Jupiter and its rings. Without looking it up, can you name all the planets in our solar system?
No.  Off hand, other than Jupiter I can think of Mars, Earth and Pluto--is Pluto still a non planet?

9) Random question: If you could erase your most painful day from your memory, would you do it?
If I could erase the most painful day, yes.  But if I could erase the memory, no.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

Brianna is a sophomore

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Ned's birthday

 Ned's birthday card.

Most expensive card I ever bought.  Worth every penny!

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

Ned's birthday gift

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Tomatoes

 Ned harvested the cherry tomatoes last night.

They were delicious.  We each got one tomato.  I hope this is encouragement for a bigger tomato field next year!

Friday is Ned's birthday and today he received a gift from Phil, who has been working on building this for the past few weeks.

Phil will be flying out here the end of the week and will drive up with their friend Greg to be with Ned on his birthday.  I'm giving him his gift at dinner tonight...but I can't take a picture until after he's opened it!

I have spent the last two days being very creative...and my office shows it.

I have gone through lots of boxes and uncovered so much stuff.  Oh my lord how many memories!  But then the question is....what to do with them now.  I want to keep them more accessible, but that means piled on the floor, on my desk and wherever I can find a flat surface.  I have used a lot of fun things in the journal I am currently making, including a lot of things I saved from my trip to Australia, which I don't want any more.  

The photos and letters from the kids over many years have been particularly emotional to look  through again.  I know some people never save stuff like this but it's so nice to stumble across a lot of these things 20 or more years later.  But when I look at all this stuff around me which makes it difficult to walk across the room, I have to think that if this house were to be destroyed, it would almost be a blessing.

Not really!!

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

There may be a pot of gold
in Tom's back yard!

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The Lamplighters

 Walt and I started going to The Lamplighters Musical Theater in the 1960s.  I had been raised by a father who told me Gilbert & Sullivan was the worst music ever and I was surprised when Walt took me to a production of HMS Pinafore at UC Berkeley and I liked it.  We found out that San Francisco had a G&S company and so we started going to each production until we had seen them all.

We got ushering tickets so we didn't have to pay, and if it was a particularly good production, we would usher more than once.  There were several that I really loved, but The Mikado was my favorite...and I became a big fan of Gilbert Russak, who played KoKo, one of his most popular roles.

We were on the newsletter of the company and got a notice that a woman was going to write a history of the Lamplighters for their 25th anniversary and was looking for volunteers.

Two of us signed up and the three of us were all the same age, all had kids in the same situation and we were so alike.  We worked together very well and produced "The Lamplighters: 25 Years of Gilbert and Sullivan in San Francisco.

After the book was published, I was asked if I would like to volunteer to help put all of the names of subscribers into their new computer--my first experience using a computer.  Over the course of doing that job, several things happened.  I started learning how to use a computer, I found other things that I could help with and became a weekly volunteer, and Gilbert and I became good friends.

Over the next several years, I became a member of the company, was deeply involved in every production, and made friends who became some of my best friends.

At one time, the co-founder of the company, Ann Pool McNab and Georgia Prugh, one of the leading sopranos, came to a show.  Both women were, by now, good friends of mine and I was so pleased to show them how far the company had come since they left.  As I stood with them and watched the audience milling about talking bout the show, I was surprised, and a bit disappointed, that neither Ann nor Georgia seemed to be at all interested.

I continued to work with the company until July 1984, when Gilbert died suddenly.  It was a tremendous loss for me and I found I could not continue to volunteer, though I did stick around to help write a couple of shows.  But eventually, I stopped volunteering.  Walt and I continued to go to shows...now you go to see how your friends perform, not to see what the show is like. We don't go regularly any more, but still see a show now and then.  

I received a newsletter the other day from the board of directors and realized I didn't recognize a single name of the people who now run the company.  The current production is the new version of The Mikado.  Asians in San Francisco always gave the company a bad time when they do Mikado because they felt it was a slam at Asians, though Gilbert & Sullivan wrote it at a time when there was a big Japanese presence in London and this was a take on the British government, with a Japanese slant.  But because of the Asians in SF who didn't like it, the company rewrote the show, making it Italian, now called Il Ducato.  I saw it the first time they did it--and they've done a magnificent job of keeping as much of G&S in the show, but removing all the Japanese.

But it's Mikado, my favorite G&S show.  And it's being performed mostly by people whose names I don't know and the company is run by people I mostly don't know.  The conductor is making his debut...Gilbert was the conductor and is role was taken over by someone else I knew, for the past 30+ years, but now there is a new conductor.

Now I understand how Ann and Georgia felt when they came to the show I was so proud of, how they just didn't care any more because it wasn't their company any more.  That's how I feel about the Lamplighters today.  Walt is off seeing Il Ducato today and I have stayed home.  I have zero desire to see my favorite G&S show done in Italian with people I don't know.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

The Grand Duke, 1993
(Will Connelly died a few years later)

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Sunday Stealing - Name Your Favorite

 

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves.

Stolen from Ned the Duck

Name Your Favorite…

    Place:  San Francisco

    Color:  Red

    Smell:  Freshly brewed coffee; freshly baking bread

    Magazine: The Week

    Texture:  Velvet

    Thing to do when bored:   Watch TV, read

    Precious stone:  Emerald

    Animal:  domestic: dog; wild: elephant

    Time in history:  Since I'm so interested in "Outlander," I guess it would be the middle to late 1700s.

    Font:  I've been visiting 1001 Free Fonts and have found several handwriting fonts that I like.  LaBelle Aurore is one.  (I'm not sure I can use that font in this entry)   

   Sound:  Ocean waves crashing on the shore.

    Fruit:  Hard to tell, but probably strawberries

    Vegetable:  artichoke

    Store/shop:  Amazon!

    Quote: "No friendship can ever cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark upon it forever." -F. Mauriac

    Historical figure:  I don't really have a "favorite" historical figure, but since Jeri just orchestrated a musical about Joan of Arc, I've learned more about her and now want to read her bio.  I've always been interested in Henry VIII ever since seeing a Masterpiece series on him back when Masterpiece was just starting....interested in him, but definitely not approving of him.

    Letter:  I never thought of having a favorite letter, but "S" came to mind.

    Memory: Oh so many!  One favorite memory is always the Lawsuit concert at UC Davis for Whole Earth Festival.

    Dessert:  cheesecake or creme brulee

    Candy:  See's California brittle

    Restaurant:  The Dead Fish in Crockett

    Language:  Other than English, Portuguese or French

    Thing to learn about:  So many things.  I read about something I've never thought about on the internet and suddenly I want to know more about it.  I'm interested in the history of Ireland.  I read a lot about the Holocaust.  I love reading about archeological discoveries.  I'm always interested in the history of San Francisco.  I love reading about race horses.  I'm always interested in movie history.  And much more.

    Thing about yourself:  I like my sense of humor and my relationship with my kids.  I consider myself a kind and caring person.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

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Saturday 9

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here are today's questions!

Saturday 9: Michelle (1965)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Paul McCartney sings to Michelle in French, "Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble." Can you say anything else in French?
I was a French major so I can have simple conversations in French (though I haven't used it in many years!)

2) Paul admits he that, as a teenager, he'd perform the first few bars at parties to impress girls. It was John Lennon who encouraged him to "turn it into a proper song." Tell us about a time you were glad you took advice from a friend or coworker.
I can't think of any at the moment.  Maybe advice from Ned (my son) who insisted I go to the doctor to have stomach pains checked out...and I ended up with gallbladder surgery.

3) A big Elvis fan, Paul is proud to own the bass that was played on the 1954 recording of "That's Alright, Mama." Tell us about one of your prized possessions.

This is a papier mache figure of Gilbert Russak playing Jack Point in the Lamplighters Theater Company's production of Yeomen of the Guard.  Someone in the chorus made several figures like this of many of the "stars" of Lamplighters shows.

Gilbert was also the musical director for  the company. He was my good friend and when he died, his family let me take this figure home.  I bought a plastic cover for it and it sits in a place of honor in our living room.

4) John was also an Elvis fan and honored The King by naming one of his cats Elvis. Do you share your home with any pets? If so, let us know their names.
We just have one dog now.  He is a rescue dog we adopted a year ago, when he was 6 years old.  He came with the name "Bubbles."  I call him Bubba.  Ned calls him Bubs.  We've had some great dog names, starting with our first dog, Ho Chi Mutt, whom we got in 1967.  I had great fun naming the dogs we fostered for the SPCA.  One of my favorite group of puppies was Patty, Maxine and Laverne.  When we discovered Maxine was male, they became Patty, Laverne and Max.

5) John was a heavy smoker who often attempted to quit. He tried hypnosis but that didn't work. Have you ever been hypnotized?
No.  Afraid I'd be laughed at.

6) George Harrison fell in love with Hawaii and bought a 63-acre estate. If you could take off tomorrow for a vacation to any of our 50 states, which one would you choose?
It would have to be Massachusetts.  Our daughter lives in Boston and I have a couple of pen pals who live in the state whom it would be fun to meet.

6) While Ringo Starr quit signing autographs for fans in 2008, he will donate autographed memorabilia to charity for auction. Have you ever bid on an item at auction? Did you win?
We used to have silent auctions as fund raisers and I bid on some items there.  I won some, didn't win others, but I can't remember what I won.

 7) As a young boy, Ringo had a severe case of appendicitis and his appendix was removed. Do you still have your appendix?
Yes. 

8) In 1965 -- before Advil and Tylenol and Aleve -- Americans took aspirin to relieve pain. If we peered into your medicine chest, would we find aspirin?
No.  The doctor does not recommend aspirin.

9) Random question: You're at dinner with a married couple who begin to argue. Would you intercede and try to make peace? Or would you just sit back and mind your own business?
I'd definitely just sit back and hope they stop soon.             

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

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Look, Ma...

There are adjustments to make with a new dentist.  I haven't quite said goodbye to Cindy! And if I met my new dentist on the street, I would not know her because I've never seen her without a mask!

Today I went in for my routine cleaning. Cindy always had big posters on the ceiling, so that while you were having your teeth worked on, you could check out lots of shells or types of cheese or various plants and other things.  She changed them periodically and it was nice to study them while they were scraping my teeth.

The new dentist has removed the posters and has put a TV in each examining area.

I assume they are all tuned to the National Geographic channel, which is a good thing to watch for an hour (don't imagine I could watch an episode of Monk.  LOL)  So they get you in the seat and adjust the TV so you can see it and the first thing they do is tilt your chair back so the only thing you can see is the top 1/3 of the TV screen.  I did see hippo ears and the heads of giraffes.  And because of the way I have to look through my glasses at this angle, I am looking through my bifocal lens and so everything looks blurry.  Nice idea, but it didn't work!

But the appointment otherwise was fine and I was out in the 97 degree sun to wait for Walt to pick me up.

The other things about this new dentist is Cindy always sent out reminders about 3 weeks before your appointment, so you could be sure you were brushing and flossing better.  I didn't remember when this appointment was and was surprised when they called on Monday to tell me that the appointment was on Wednesday.

But now I'm OK until December.  Maybe by then they will have figured out how to position the television sets so people can actually LOOK at them.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

Facebook posted this collage today.

Sad to see how she is "with it" in the first

picture and then begins to lose it and

by the 4th picture, she doesn't know

who she is or who I am.

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#4

So it's happened...the fourth indictment for the former president.  And now that he's been indicted...again... apparently his popularity has risen yet again.  What IS it with these cultists?   The charges for #45 include racketeering, conspiracy, making false statements, and soliciting public officials to violate their oaths of office, as well as nine other charges.

The thing about the Georgia charges are if he is elected president (please, no!) he can make the other three indictments go away and pardon himself, but that's not possible in Georgia, nor is it possible to pressure the governor, as we know he is prone to do, because the governor has no power to affect crimes in the state.

It is entirely possible (though unlikely) that he could be elected president and be in jail in Georgia.

This man has never been held responsible for any of the things, criminal and not, that he has done in his life...please let him find out that there are responsibilities for all the illegal things he has done. And dear God, let the Republicans find some gumption to actually admit that maybe he's not as innocent as he wants everybody to think he is.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

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Gardens

It was difficult for my mother, living in a flat in San Francisco, with a concrete back yard where she hung laundry.  She grew up on a ranch and always had things growing.  The concrete back yard had a little dirt filled container that she used to plant vegetables.  I don't remember her planting anything other than carrots (though she probably did).  I remember when we harvested the carrots they were about 6" long and very thin.  But she grew them.  I don't remember her growing anything more than that year and I have pictures of people standing where the dirt used to be, so maybe they covered it up.

As she got her own house, after David was born, she was thrilled that she had a garden and she planted a lot of things. She could take a dry stick and make it bloom, where I can take a flowering plant and turn it into a dry stick.  After she and Fred married, they had a mobile home with a small garden and she raised orchids and roses and the garden was beautiful.  When she moved here to Davis, the facility had a garden where they encouraged people to plant things, but it was like she lost her interest in plants.

We have this wonderful back yard, but it's never had grass because when we moved in here we had dogs that ran around and we couldn't keep them off the growing grass.  I tried planting vegetables and I remember how big the zucchini got.  The kids hated zucchini and I made a lot of zucchini bread.  When I served it for dinner, I told them that the longer it took them to eat THIS zucchini, the bigger the one still growing would get.

I did get corn on the cob one year that was very good.  Didn't get much, but enough to enjoy it.  And we had several fruit trees.  The peach tree produced a lot until the year it died.  The apricot tree stopped producing apricots and had to be taken down.  What's left is the apple tree, which is dripping with apples this year.  Ned harvested several a couple of weeks ago and it's time to harvest again.  They are now very ripe and taste sweeter  than they did with the first batch he harvested.  They are smaller  than they would be if we had removed some of them before they started growing big.

Ned decided to plant tomatoes and he planted two plants, and a basil bush.  The basil is really going to town and we've cut it back several times and it keeps growing.  The tomato plants are starting to produce.  We have two cherry tomatoes and one small regular tomato that are starting to turn red.  We're not gong to get a salad out of them, but Ned will carve them up so we can each have half a cherry tomato and a piece of the other tomato.

Next year, maybe he'll plant more tomatoes, since he knows that they will grow.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY 

There are TOMATOES in our garden!

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More Love Letters

 A pen pal asked if I'd heard of More Love Letters.

The World Needs More Love Letters is a global organization combining the power of social media with the art of letter writing to handwrite + mail love letters to people in need around the world.

Every month, they feature stories of individuals from around the world who’ve been nominated by loved ones to receive letters. 

These are everyday stories of people facing the tough stuff that comes with being human– loss, grief, sickness, heartbreak, mental illness, bullying, and other circumstances.

You get the chance to read the stories, write some love letters, and send them off to the listed address. At the end of the month, your love letter will be included in a bundle of hundreds of letters from around the globe.

I joined and wrote to two of the people on the list. This makes Sunday my "letter writing day." I also write letters to Letters Against Isolation. This group fights senior loneliness one letter at a time. Through handwritten messages of love, hope, and joy, our volunteer community brings seniors connection and improves their mental and physical health.

Every other week, we will send you a  portal where you can sign up to send letters to any of the care homes in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and Israel that we serve. You’ve got the fun job of writing as many letters as you would like to! You can write about whatever you would like, but remember that these letters will be brightening days; try to make them cheerful, and be creative! Do not include your phone number or anything else that would identify yourself and do not send gifts. 

I usually write 5 letters a week to people who are receiving Meals on Wheels.  And then I write to my Compassion Int'l sponsored kids.  And if there is time, I answer pen pal letters!

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Sunday Stealing

 

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves.

Stolen from the League of Extraordinary Penpals

1. Things I would do first if I won a billion dollar lottery
First, I would find a good professional who could help me with the money.  Then I would make sure that each of my kids got a good amount and the granddaughters had money set aside for them.  I would give the maximum family gift to each of my sponsored kids.   I would plan a long flight somewhere in first class and maybe a first class cruise. I'm not really interested in a lot of "stuff," but I would hire someone to come and plant grass and flowers in our yard and maybe think of things around that house that could be done...like maybe building a bathroom for me that connects to my office.  I would have a lot of clothes made just for me.   I can think of a few friends and organizations that I would give money to, anonymously.  Basically, I wouldn't have a clue what to do with so much money! 

2. Something I probably spend too much money on
Lately it's been too much on stuff with Temu.  Normally it's too much on books.

3. How I feel about the dentist
My dentist used to be my friend, but she has now retired.  But she taught me not to be afraid of the dentist and I actually looked forward to my appointments because it was my chance to visit with her.  In all the years I was with her, and all the work she did on my teeth, there was zero pain.

4. Foods I am most picky about
I only eat Best Foods mayonnaise.  I prefer white, not wheat, bread.  No lettuce in any sandwich. Bananas must be slightly green with no brown spots whatever.

5. Internet friends / penpals I want to visit in person
Country Girl has become my penpal and I'd love to meet her.  Also several of the regulars here and on Saturday 9, like Kwizgiver and The Gal Herself.  I've had lunch with Zippi.

6. My healthiest habits
Since my hospitalization, I've pretty much given up most sweets, except occasionally.  And I've stopped eating Skippy Peanut butter and have learned to actually prefer no-salt peanut butter.  Thanks to the writers' strike, I've also started going to sleep at 10 instead of 1 a.m. and find I am actually sleeping better

7. Easiest, low effort foods and snacks for busy days
Easiest snack for me is four Ritz crackers and 1 slice of American cheese broken into 4 pieces to top the crackers.  That, with some fruit, is frequently my lunch.

8. Where I go in summer to unwind
We don't do "vacations" so in the summer I unwind at home, just like I do every other season.

9. My comfort books, tv shows, and movies
"Cozy mysteries," more drama than comedy on TV.  We rarely go to the movies but wait for blockbusters to come out on Netflix.

10. A list of good things
Chocolate, personal letters, sunsets, the sound of the ocean, naps, San Francisco, fog, people who make comments on journal entries, SwapBot swaps, Peets French roast coffee, my recliner, donuts, beautiful photography, squirrels, the friendship my kids have with each other

11. Favorite places to take photos

I love to take pictures in San Francisco.  I love any scenic place with mountains, waterfalls, or ocean.

12. The routines and habits I stick to most
My whole day is pretty much routine -- bed at 10, up at 1 to do Wordle and ISE, back to sleep between 2 and 3, up around 5 and into the recliner with Morning Joe on hoping it will put me to sleep.  Breakfast around 8 and then into my office for the morning, answering letters, working on the current journal and doing stuff on the internet.  Lunch around 11:30-12, then turn on reruns of Criminal Minds and sleep for an hour to an hour and a half. Back to my office to repeat the morning's activities, dinner at 6 and then watch TV until time to go back to sleep. 

13. Topics I’d love to learn more about
I'm always happy to learn more about animals, especially elephants.  I love learning new things about San Francisco, I have read a lot about the Holocaust, I love learning the backstage story of the making of movies. So many more topics I come across sound interesting.

14. This time last year ...
We had just gotten our new dog and were getting to know him.  Also, my computer broke down and I stopped writing Funny the World for several months.

15. Favorite memories of someone I’ve lost
The very first person whose death made an impact on me was my friend Gilbert, who died in 1986.  He was the musical director of The Lamplighters Musical Theater and we became friends when I was working on the book that told the story of the first 25 years of the company.  I stayed around after the book was published and we became very good friends.  He was one of the most intelligent people I have ever met and knew everything about everything.  He taught me a lot about opera and he could tell you where every ship that ever sank around San Francisco could be found.  He had been the patter man for the Gilbert & Sullivan company and was an amazing actor.  At the time of his death, he was in the middle of building a doll house for his niece's daughter, a project he'd been working on for months.

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Saturday 9

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here are today's questions.

Saturday 9: Diana (1957)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Legend has it that Paul Anka wrote this song about his favorite babysitter. In your younger days, did you make a little extra money as a sitter?
Oh yeah.  There was a family around the corner from our flat and I babysat for them all the time. They paid me 25 cents an hour.

2) Paul sings he doesn't care what "they" say about his love for an older girl. Have you ever had a romantic relationship that your friends or family didn't approve of?
My mother wasn't too happy with Walt when we started dating.  I can't remember why.  But she warmed up to him.

3) Paul was once a choirboy, singing with the St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral choir in Ontario. Have you ever performed with your church choir?
I was in church choirs for many years until we moved to Davis.  The choirs I sang in always did wonderful, complicated music and the Davis music was so boring, it wasn't fun to sing with them. As I've gotten older, I've lost my voice and couldn't sing even if I wanted to.

4) When Paul was 15, he left Ontario to find fame and fortune in New York. He had $100 in his pocket, a gift from his uncle. Tell us about someone in your life who who believed in you and encouraged you.
After my friend Gilbert died, I wanted to write a book about the next 10 years of the Lamplighters Theater Company, after the book we wrote about their first 25 years.  I wasn't sure I could actually do it, but Alison Lewis, who was the lead writer on the first book, convinced me I could and she talked the Lamplighters board of directors into letting me do it.

5) Paul seldom gets credit for one of his most familiar compositions: the theme to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Since Johnny retired in 1992, The Tonight Show has been hosted by Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, and Jimmy Fallon. Which of these Tonight Show hosts is your favorite?
None of them ever came up to Johnny's hosting and I never got involved in any of them and particularly didn't like Leno.  Now I watch Stephen Colbert instead of the Tonight Show.  Or watch it when the writers strike is over.

6) In 1978, Paul Anka hired Las Vegas' first female bartender for his restaurant, Jubilation. Where did you most recently dine out?
We went to Red Lobster for their "crabfest" on our anniversary in June.

7) In 1957, when "Diana" was a hit, Wham-O began producing Frisbees. The toy was a massive success, even outselling the hula hoop. Do you enjoy tossing a Frisbee?
I'm not very good at it, but it's fun. 

8) Also in 1957, the book Peyton Place was made into a blockbuster film. Book lovers often say that, no matter what, the movie is never as good as the book. Do you think that's true?
Oh very definitely and some movies ruin the book, like what Barbra Streisand did to "The Prince of Tides," one of my favorite books.

9) Random question: This Saturday, the treat's on Sam. Will you have buttered popcorn, caramel corn or cheese popcorn?
If it's freshly buttered popcorn, I'll go with the buttered.  If not, I'll take the cheese.   

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend! 

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50th anniversary

 Well, I finally found out who Josine is and what her address is.  After checking everything I could think of, it finally dawned on me that she might be a member of the League of Extraordinary PenPals so I checked the database and there she was, address and everything, so I was able to reply to her very nice letter.

* * * *

As of this week...not sure which day, possibly the 1st or 2nd of August, we have been in this house for 50 years.  As my friend David says, "it's time to dust."

I was reading my book, "How I Did It" and remember now what a terrible first day it was.  We had spent the night at a motel with David while the other kids were at my mother's.  In the morning we had breakfast at the Nut Tree and then got to the house around 9, waiting for the movers to arrive with our stuff.

We had two trucks--a big one and a small one.  The small one arrived with the news that the big one broke down and they were  trying to find a new cab to bring it u here.  It finally arrived shortly before noon and the guys were here until 7 or 8 unloading.  We had grandparents here and around 9 everyone left.  Jeri and Ned were in tears because they wanted to go back to Terra Linda with my parents, Paul was in tears because Grandma didn't read him a story.  Tom had hurt himself and was crying.  David was just crying because he was tired and I was crying because everyone else was crying.

When we finally got the kids settled and asleep, I faced the monumental task of putting away the kitchen stuff, which the movers had unpacked and which covered every available inch of surface and spilled onto the floor.  It seemed insurmountable, but I wanted the kids to get up in the morning and see a room that looked like "home" and not like a room full of boxes.  A few hours of concentrated effort paid off and it finally got put away.  I also straightened up Jeri's room and put her favorite toys out, as well as some of her books, figuring that she might feel better if she woke up in a more orderly existence.  I stumbled into bed at 3  a.m., but felt I had accomplished quite a lot and gotten us on the road to being settled at any rate.

None of us wanted to move here, but the kids settled in as soon as school started.  For me, it took 15 years before Davis felt like "home."  But it feels like home now and the Bay Area seems strange.  We arrived here as one of the newcomers to town and now we are one of the old timers.

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