Trick or Treat

 Well we DID have trick or treaters, but only about four or five knocks at the door.  It's easier to do trick or treat with Bubba than it was with Polly, who immediately raced into the street, because he comes as soon as you call him, but Ned ended up blocking off the door so he couldn't run out and greet the trick or treaters.

I spent a lot of the day answering letters and working on my database.  I still have a few months to go, but it's getting there.  I also finished off  the journal I've been making and got it ready to be sent to my partner.  Now I've started a new journal.  I may not be as artistic as a lot of people who do journals, but I do love having those pages to decorate each day.

Walt got home from Tahoe yesterday, with Alice Nan and Joe driving him.  They enjoyed looking at our completed candy puzzle.  I thought we were missing two pieces, but Ned found them.  We've started a new puzzle on The 80s, which is going to be quite a picture to work on.  Char sent me a picture of a puzzle of dog books she just completed and I want to do that too....it looks like I've read most of the books in the picture.

I slept 8 hours last night, which was amazing, but I am writing this at 1:30 a.m. on November 1, and haven't had any sleep yet tonight, so the 8 hrs was not the start of a new trend!

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Ned's decoration

8440

This too shall pass

 I first heard "this, too, shall pass" from my mother.  I can't remember what she was talking about, but whenever something unpleasant came along, she would comfort me by telling me that "this too shall pass."  

There are so many terrible things going on in the world right now that I want to say "this too shall pass" to everyone.  But will it?  Will the Israel/Hamas war pass...and if it passes, how many thousands of men women and children will have passed with it?

A couple of weeks ago, as the House tried to find a Speaker and it all seemed to be going wrong, I wanted to say "this too shall pass," but now they have found the worst conservative speaker possible, who is against homosexuality, against abortion, who wants the country to become Christian.  And will this ever pass?

Mass killings.  The man in the quiet, non-violent state of Maine killing the most people killed in a mass killing in this country in many years, before committing suicide...and then two days later another man killed more people.  A 6 year old shot because he was Jewish.  Mass killings have become so common they rarely make the headlines any more.  Will this really pass?  the new Speaker of the House says this is not the time to discuss gun control, but to send prayers to the families...isn't that what they always say?  If this is not the time, when IS the time?

An airplane unable to land at an airport because of the crowds hoping to kill Jews on board. (What IS it about Jews?  Some of my best friends have been Jewish  ... or gay ... or both... )

And then there is #45.  I want to say "this too shall pass" but...when?  And if it pass soon, who is going to take his place?  When will the cultists see him for who he is?  Good lord, he wants the judge removed from the bench, every person who has pled guilty in Georgia is a terrible person whom he never really knew (even if they worked for him for years).  He is using the trial as a campaign.  Being unable to say bad things about potential witnesses is abusing his free speech (has anyone heard what his plan will be if elected other than getting rid of the people he now hates?)  If he's arrested, he's claiming he will be like Nelson Mandela, who certainly must be rolling over in his grave at the moment...or at the most having a good laugh.

Yes, all of these things will pass...but what will replace them.

The other thing my mother said frequently, which I now understand, is "I'm glad I'm as old as I am."  Maybe Alzheimer's isn't so bad after all...

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8439 

Organization

Don't you just love that photo of  the day?  I found it on the Internet and had to share.

So it's been a very busy couple of days.  It started innocently enough, looking for a photo that I wanted to post on Facebook.  I knew it was on my computer somewhere but I spent literally hours looking through all the files that I have, thinking there must be some way to put all these photos together in one file, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.  You can get one of those things that will collect all your photos on one disk, but they would be just like I have them now, only in one place and still no logical way to FIND anything.  I still haven't figured out how to do it.

BUT, when I couldn't find the photo in the files I checked, I went to the database that I kept for all of the Funny the World entries, which gives the date of each entry, what the subject is, and which photos are posted.  I found the two photos I was looking for in 5 minutes.

I realized how useful that database has been since I got it all done.  I had done over 8,000 entries before I moved to Blogspot and I hadn't done the last month because I was moving.  But I decided that I wanted to update the FTW entries and add the Blogspot entries.  I started Blogspot in February 2023, so that's nearly a year of entries, plus the month of August 2022, the last month of FTW in its own domain.

I managed to get August finished, and then February finished, but that took a couple of hours, so I took a break and intended to get back to it, but the 49er game was on, so I never did (I would have been better off updating the database, given how bad the game was!)  But now I have 8 more months of Blogspot entries to put into the database.

I will feel very good when it's all finished, but that will probably take most of the coming week.  You can't sit here and write those entries for hours at a time.

Maybe at some point I can figure out the best way to get my photos organized.  But I doubt it!  LOL.

# # # # # #

Ned and I have just about finished the candy puzzle.  I was listening to a Survivor podcast last night around 11:30 and ended up listening to it and working the puzzle at the same time.  If we don't get it finished tonight, it will definitely be finished tomorrow morning.  Then we have more 1000 piece puzzles to choose from.  Not sure which one we will choose next, but what fun to have a choice of puzzles from which to make a choice!

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I love this picture!

8438 

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 League of  Extraordinary PenPals 

1, Do you decorate for Autumn?
I don't decorate for anything, really.

2. How often do you clean out your closets?
You're supposed to clean out your closets?

3. When is the last time you planned a surprise for someone?
I can't think of anything since Jeri's 40th birthday, almost 20 years ago

4. Are there foods you really don’t like?
Liver, beets, durian    

5. What is something you recently learned?
Temu is the 2nd largest on-line shopping company, second only to Amazon

6. Items you’re most likely to buy at a convenience store
Stationery stuff or greeting cards.

7. Do you believe in the paranormal?
I've never had any experience, but I don't DISbelieve in the paranormal.

8. How would you describe your spirituality?
I think of myself as spiritual, but without a specific religion.

9. Do you make plans far in advance
Depends on for what, but generally no.

10. Do you like being scared for fun?
Definitely not

11. What has been difficult for you lately?
Keeping my work desk neat, but then that's been a problem forever.

12. Have you ever written or read fanfiction?
No,

13. What type of wall art do you have in your home?
Mostly family photos, except for one big painting from San Francisco

14. Are you more likely to be private or overshare?
Like 9, depends on what.  I can be both.

15. What have you recently learned to live without?
Sugar.  It's surprising how little I miss it.

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getting there...

8437

Being old

Ned and Walt have gone to Tahoe.  Ned will be home tomorrow ; Walt will stay with his sister and her husband and they will drive him home in a few days.  So it's just Marta and me here and I have to admit that it makes me uncomfortable to do anything for fear of falling.  So I've just spent time watching TV and working on the puzzle (which is such a fun puzzle).  

Marta works at home and I never see her during the day, and she has a meeting on Thursday nights, so she won't join me for dinner, but she came downstairs to make sure I was OK and to let me know that she is going to her office in Sacramento tomorrow and remind me to keep my cell phone with me and if I fall, to call 911.  It all made me feel very old!  But she's right, of course.  If I fall and don't have my phone with me, I am too heavy to crawl to get it.  I'm the traditional old lady on TV saying "Help--I've fallen and I can't get up!"

I wrote letters to Brianna and Lacie today and was telling Lacie about the cakes I decorated, since she is becoming a cake decorator.  I decided to take a picture of the most complicated cake I ever decorated.  It took 8 hours to make the flowers, because some of them had to harden and others were made of buttercream frosting.  I just love this cake.  But I think I only made it 2 or 3 times.  It just takes too long to make!

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8437

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 memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: Spooky Scary Skeletons (1996)

Unfamiliar with this week's featured song? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Andrew Gold sings that these skeletons send shivers down his spine. Do you often involuntarily shudder or shiver? 
I don't believe so.

2) While they appear frightening, these skeletons are harmless and only want to socialize with us mortals. Can you think of something -- or someone -- that intimidated you at first but that you were more comfortable with as you became more familiar?
That would be my one-time best friend Gilbert Russak, who was an actor and musical director of the theater company I wrote a book about.  I had watched him perform for many years and was terribly intimidated when I first met him and when I saw him in person for several months.  However, when I became a volunteer for the company, we became good friends.

3) The video for this song was originally created in 1929. Skeleton Dance was a short movie produced and directed by Walt Disney himself. In 2006, Disney Studios paired Gold's song with this animation for a Halloween DVD. Do you have any DVDs that you watch seasonally (every Halloween, every Thanksgiving, every Christmas, etc.)?
No.  We almost never watch DVDs...you can find all of those shows on Netflix. 

4) You may not realize it, but you likely already know one of Andrew Gold's songs. He wrote "Thank You for Being a Friend," the theme to TV's Golden Girls. Blanche, Dorothy, Rose or Sophia: Which is your favorite?
Rose.

These questions will help us get into the Halloween spirit ....

5) Introduced in the 1880s, candy corn was originally called Chicken Feed. It was developed by a candy manufacturer who gave it the orange/white color and special name to differentiate it from jelly beans. Do you like candy corn (a) all year around or (b) at Halloween only or (c) never?
The only  time I ever see it is at Halloween time.  I don't mind it; I don't like it a lot, but I have been known to eat it when it's around.

6) What candy will trick-or-treaters get when they show up at your front door?
We have almost no trick or treaters at our door.  I think we had three last year.  But we had peanut butter cups and snickers for those who did show up. 

7) Halloween was a 1978 movie by John Carpenter about Michael Myers, who kills while wearing a ghostly mask. In the original movie, the mask used was a $2 Captain Kirk mask, painted white. Both Halloween and Star Trek are successful franchises of more than a dozen movies. Have you seen more of Michael Myers or Captain Kirk?
Definitely Captain Kirk.  I've never seen Michael Myers and was a huge fan of Star Trek, especially the original cast.

8) In 2022, a survey of California schoolchildren revealed that Buzz Lightyear was the top pick of Halloween costume. When you were little, did you prefer to dress up for Halloween as a hero, like Buzz, or a scary monster?
I don't know that I had a preference.  I remember being a witch and a princess in different years. 

9) Some long-time White House employees claim they have seen Abraham Lincoln's ghost wandering the halls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Have you ever seen a ghost?
No.  I'd love to!

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8436 

Misc Stuff

Wow. The high temperature today is predicted to be 62!  I can't remember the last time there was any day that had a "6" in it!

I am so enjoying the new Jozirushi cup.  I can pour myself a cup of coffee at 6 a.m. and drink it slowly and it's still hot at 3 p.m.  I'm not pouring as much coffee as I used to because it doesn't cool off, so one cup lasts as long as I need it to last.  

I have had two more packages from my SwapBot partner.  She sent three large sheets of stamps (34 cent and 39 cent) and three rolls of Washi tape, one of which is a great elephant washi.  I will never again get a partner as generous as she has been and I feel so fortunate.

I have been working on answering letters for the past couple of days and am finally at the end of my stack, with only Compassion letters left to write, so that was a huge accomplishment.  It helps that there were no letters delivered today.  I just have the answer to one letter, a very long letter from the Netherlands, to complete.

Ned and Walt are going to Tahoe tomorrow.   Marta and I will stay home with Bubba.  Ned will be back the next day, but Walt will stay up there with his sister and her husband for a few days, and they will drive him home.  It will be good for him to have some time up there.

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8435 

Screaming

I have written here frequently about shows I watch on Tv.  Many of them, perhaps most of them, are crime drama shows -- NCIS, NCIS-LA, SVU, Criminal Minds, and even Monk.  They all have one thing in common:  When a dead body is found, the woman who finds it screams.

I don't think I have ever screamed about anything.  I don't think I have ever heard any women screaming.  And if screaming is the thing you're supposed to do when you come across a crime scene, why don't men ever scream?

There is an episode of NCIS where a TV crew is filming a scene and are upset because the actress isn't screaming convincingly.  She walks away and suddenly starts screaming and the director is happy because she finally got the scream right...but she has tumbled into a hole that has a skeleton in it.  Scream!

# # # # 

My cell phone is driving me crazy.  And I guess it's my fault.  I charge it in the family room and it stays on a shelf at my elbow when I'm in the recliner.  I almost never get phone calls, so it doesn't occur to me to keep it with me all the time.  But sure as I sit down at my desk to do something, I have to log into somewhere that wants me to put in a code that they will send to my phone, so I have to get up and go get the phone.  Then, I have it on my desk and often forget when I leave my office.  I get all settled into my recliner and go to get the phone to read on my Kindle app--but the phone is in my office and I have to get up and go get it.

Tuesdays drive me crazy because I have an alarm set for every Tuesday so I don't forget to listen to Ned's show.  But I almost NEVER have the phone with me and I'll be typing something here on the computer and this gawdawful alarm suddenly starts blaring and I have to get up and try to get to it quickly.

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8434 

Lunch!

 Walt goes out for brunch with friends once a month; I used to go to lunch once a month with my friend Kathleen, who lives in Sacramento.  We've been friends for 49 years, she tells me.  We started going to lunch together some 25 years ago, for the first many years in Sacramento, but after she retired and didn't have to go back to work after lunch, she started coming to Davis.

It's great fun.  We never talk current events here at home, so Kathleen is  the only person I can discuss current events with.  We started with George Bush and had a lot to discuss then.  We didn't have much to discuss when Obama was president, but we made up for it during the Trump administration.

But for some reason, we haven't been to lunch in nearly a year.  A lot has been going on in her life and we just never made a date.  We missed the four arrests of Trump and what has been going on in the House of Representatives.

But we made up for that today.  It was a lovely lunch.  I had eggs benedict and she had what she usually has -- a BLT.  And we got caught up on our kids and on all the things going on in the news.  We actually stayed for an hour and a half and it was great.

I'm having difficulty speaking loud enough for people to hear me, since I got the hearing aids.  When I speak it sounds plenty loud in my ear, but the family has been telling me I need to speak up and I had a difficult time being heard today, especially since we were seated near a juke box that was playing, to my ear, very loud.

We made an appointment for the next lunch next month.  She may be selling her car and will come over on Uber.

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8433

The Elderly

They call us ”The Elderly”

We were born in the 40-50-60’s.

We grew up in the 50-60-70's.

We studied in the 60-70-80's.

We were dating in the 70-80-90's.

We got married and discovered the world in the 70-80-90's.

We venture into the 80-90’s.

We stabilize in the 2000’s.

We got wiser in the 2010’s.

And we are going firmly through and beyond 2020.

Turns out we've lived through EIGHT different decades...

TWO different centuries...

TWO different millennia...

We have gone from the telephone with an operator for long-distance calls to video calls to anywhere in the world.

We have gone from slides to YouTube, from vinyl records to online music, from handwritten letters to email and Whats App.

From live matches on the radio, to black and white TV, colour TV and then to 3D HD TV.

We went to the Video store and now we watch Netflix.

We got to know the first computers, punch cards, floppy disks and now we have gigabytes and megabytes on our smartphones.

We wore shorts throughout our childhood and then long trousers, Oxfords, flares, shell suits & blue jeans.

We dodged infantile paralysis, meningitis, polio, tuberculosis, swine flu and now COVID-19.

We rode skates, tricycles, bicycles, mopeds, petrol or diesel cars and now we drive hybrids or electric.

Yes, we've been through a lot but what a great life we've had!

They could describe us as “exennials”; people who were born in that world of the fifties, who had an analog childhood and a digital adulthood.

We've kind of “Seen-It-All”!

Our generation has literally lived through and witnessed more than any other in every dimension of life.

It is our generation that has literally adapted to “CHANGE”.

A big round of applause to all the members of a very special generation, which will be UNIQUE.

-Author unknown 

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8432

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 League of  Extraordinary PenPals 

1. October reading & writing goals and plans
I'm in the middle of a John Lescroart book.  I want to finish that and start another book...haven't decided which one yet.  Writing plans are just to continue daily entries for Funny the World, and keep up with answering letters.

2. Something I did that totally paid off

It was a long time ago, but volunteering to help put together the 25 year history of The Lamplighters, a theater group in San Francisco.  It changed my life.

3. I want to see this make a comeback

A congress with Republicans and Democrats who can work together..

4. Generational traits I really value

Baby Boomers (Live to work, self-worth = work ethic, loyal to employer, competitive, goal-centric.)

5. Changes I’d like to see in my daily environment
I am happy with my daily environment, for the most part.  I'd like to have friends in my daily life, but I'm happy being a hermit.

6. Favorite soup dishes

Lamb soup of the middle east

Clam chowder

French onion soup

7. Start with the best part, or save the best for last

Depends on what we're  talking about.  Probably best part first.

8. The most chaotic part of my daily life

The dog insisting he sit in my lap the second I start to sit down.  This goes on most of  the day.

9. If I could only eat 10 things, I’d pick

*Dungeness Crab
* Roast leg of lamb
* bagel
* Garlic bread
* artichoke
* spinach
* peanut butter
* cream cheese
* mandarin oranges
* fresh peaches

10. What Autumn feels like where I live
It's no longer in the 100s, Some trees change color and are beautiful (but nothing like back east).

11. The teacher who would be most proud of me

Sister Anne, my typing teacher.  We became good friends for the rest of her life and our daughter is named for her. I became an excellent typist and worked as a medical transcriptionist until I retired.

12. My go to Halloween snacks & treats 

We get almost no trick or treaters, but we buy Snickers, and peanut butter cups and have lots left over the next morning

13. 10 ways my life is great right now

* My son (and his wife) lives with us and has taken over the house, including shopping and cooking
* We have a great lap dog
* My children are adults and we are friends
* We live in a quiet town
* After being very worried about a colonoscopy I had last week, all went well and no cancer!
* I love squirrels and we have some who beg at our back door for walnuts
* We have two interesting granddaughters
* I love having lots of pen pals
* I live close to San Francisco (where I was born and raised)
* I love being retired

14. A perfect day indoors looks like…

* Working air conditioning
* Comfy recliner with a bottle of ice water at hand
* Dog in lap
* Something good on TV
* Listening to my son cooking dinner

15. Pumpkin spice…

I like pumpkin spice in pumpkin pie and maybe in a few things, but at this time of year, it seems that pumpkin is put in EVERYTHING and that is entirely too much. (Pumpkin coffee?  Ewww.)

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Bubba knows Ned is fixing his dinner

8431  

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 questions, however, and here are today's questions!

Saturday 9: Something More (2005)

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

1) Sugarland's lead singer Jennifer Nettles describes a busy morning that begins with a cup of coffee. Do you start your day with a cup of joe?
Definitely.  My son Ned gets up early and starts a pot of Peet's French Roast so that when I wake up, it's all brewed and ready for me to pour a cup.

2) When she gets home from work, she sings that her house is dirty but says housework can wait until she has a glass of wine. Is there a particular chore on your "to-do" list that you keep putting off?
I've been planning to organize my office now for years.

3) The lyrics tell us happiness is something we can create. Do you agree?
To a point.  You can decide how you are going to react to things that happen in your life, negatively or positively.  Positively works better!

4) In the video of this week's song, the members of Sugarland ride along in a vintage Cadillac. Are you one of those drivers who has a nickname for your car?
We have only had one car that had a name.  It was our green van that was unlike any other car in Davis and we called it the Jolly Green Giant.  The kids couldn't get in trouble when they drove it because everybody in town recognized it!

5) The group hitches a ride in a red truck. The auto insurance industry tells us that Americans favor vehicles in the grayscale colors. Nearly 80% of cars on the road today are white, black, gray or silver. What color is your vehicle? 
Silver.

6) Nettles achieved her dream of performing on Broadway when she took over the role of Roxy in Chicago. What's your fantasy job?
Not any more...retired is a good job.  But when I was younger I would love to have had a job that worked with animals.

7) She wrote a cookbook with her mom called Sweet, Savory and Simple. When it was originally published, it was spiral bound. That way, it could be laid flat on the counter as the cook tries one of the recipes. How many cookbooks do you own?
Hardly any now.  Only about 50, left over from the more than 300 I had at one time.  Not sure why I have any, actually, since I get all of my recipes on the internet....and I almost never cook anyway!

 8) In 2005, when "Something More" was topping the country charts, Paul McCartney won a People's Choice Award for his concert tour. Do you have any plans to enjoy music performed live between now and the end of the year?
I will be reviewing a production of Oklahoma in November, filling in for the woman who took my criticing job when I retired.

9) Random question: Who received the most recent compliment you gave?
I frequently compliment Ned, especially on the meals he cooks.

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8431  

Mail and Puzzles

I still have a stack to answer, but I am getting caught up on the letters that have arrived in the last couple of weeks that I just didn't feel like answering. I think I mailed off 3 letters and several post cards for Swap Bot today and will  get at least one more letter written by the end of the day.

The pressure is off a bit because I heard from my male correspondent.  He always answers letters  the day he gets them or the next, so I always answer him in the same way.  But somehow we got off kilter.  I sent him a post card and he returned with a letter, so we had two letters going.  Somehow we now have three letters going.  I didn't realize we did, but that's what he said in the first two of three letters he wrote.  Only the third letter hasn't arrived yet, and I want to answer all three letters with ONE letter so we can get back to normal.

My swap bot partner who sent me that great Zojirushi cup last week was part of a swap called 
"Happy Mailbox all October."  The idea is that you send your partner five things, spaced out over the month.  The instructions say that you can send something that you only need one stamp for.  They certainly didn't imply that one should buy something as expensive as the gift I received last week.  I was bowled over.

But then I got this week's mail and it's four SHEETS of stamps.  They are 34 cent and 39 cent stamps, but there are a lot of them.  There is a sheet of Judy Garland, of Lucille Ball, of Leonard Bernstein and of major things in  this country, like the oldest trees (bristlecone pines), The deepest lake (Crater Lake), the hottest spot (Death Valley) and 37 more.  If you add up the cost of all of these stamps it's another ~$40.  Fortunately, the partner you send stuff to is not the partner you receive stuff from because I'm sending things like stickers, book marks, and return address labels.  I'm not sure how my partner, bless her, is sending me such expensive things, but I certainly lucked out on partners!

# # # #

The new candy puzzle is fun, but initially it was very difficult because the picture of the puzzle on t he cover wrapped around the cover, so you could not see what the edges of the puzzle actually are...and with a puzzle like this it makes it difficult.  However, I went on line and found a picture of the puzzle that someone had worked and printed that out.  That made putting the edges together very easy and now we are into the middle of the puzzle, trying to figure out how many pictures of Snickers and peanut butter cups there are!

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8430  

Happy Birthday

I'm not sure when I wrote this, but I thought that on this, Gilbert Russak's birthday, I should print it again.

Let me write about my special friendship with Gilbert Russak, musical director for the Lamplighters, a Gilbert & Sullivan company in San Francisco.  

Walt and I went to Lamplighters shows for many years, ushering for many of them, and I had a crush on Gilbert Russak, who played the patter roles.  I particularly liked him as KoKo, in The Mikado and Jack Point in Yeomen of the Guard. 

In 1970, I received a note from the Lamplighters that a woman was looking for people who wanted to help write a book about the 25 year history of the company.  I volunteered, as did one other woman.  All three of us were about the same age, all had kids the same age and had lots in common.  We worked on interviews and writing the book for two years.  I never got to interview Gilbert, but I did transcribe his interview.  The experience changed my life.

After the book was published, I was offered the chance to volunteer to move all the card information of subscribers to the new computer they had just purchased.  That’s when I started to learn computers.  It’s also when I started to become friends with Gilbert. He had stopped performing by this time, but had taken over as musical director and conductor of the new orchestra.  

I worked in the office two days a week (commuting from my home, 80 miles away) and got to staying late and having dinner with Gilbert each night.  We became close friends, going to many San Francisco restaurants, having cocktails and wine and then, if I had too much to drink, I would spend the night at his house–he lived in a downstairs apartment and I slept on the couch in the upstairs apartment.  

He taught me so much about music and he was one of the most intelligent people I knew.  He could discuss anything and he was an expert on San Francisco history.  He was a fanatic about the Titanic and built a big model of the ship.

He and I wrote four musicals as fund raisers for the Lamplighters and started a monthly newsletter, which is still going to day, 40 years later.

In July of 1986 he was scheduled for minor surgery and during the surgery he had a heart attack and died.  It was the biggest loss I’d ever had.  I spent a whole year reading about death and grief .  He had family in Oklahoma, but his sister wasn’t too interested in the things of her gay brother so they planned to have an open house and sell whatever they could of his things.  I knew he would hate that, so I bought it all for $2,000 and gave away special things to friends of his.

On the first anniversary of his death, three friends and I went out to dinner and that evolved into an annual dinner for about 20 of his best friends.  We had dinner every July 14 until COVID came along.  We haven’t had dinner since, because some people have died and others have moved away.

All these years later (37 years), Gilbert is still my most special friend and I am so glad for the years that we had together.

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8429  

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. Write about the best decision you ever made. How did you make it? Was it reasoning or gut instinct?
I think it was to decision to help a woman who was going to write a history of The Lamplighters Music Company for their 25th anniversary.  That decision changed my life.  I helped with the book, made many friends, stayed around to volunteer for the company, helped write several original musicals, learned the computer, and ultimately wrote my own book 10 years later.  

2. What ONE thing would you change about your life? How would your life be different?
I would have graduated from college.  I would have found a "career" instead of the jobs I had so that I could retire with a retirement.

3. What is the hardest thing you have ever done? Why was it hard for you? What did you learn?
The hardest thing was learning about grief.  This was when one of my best friends, Gilbert Russak, the musical director of The Lamplighters died.  It took a year to go through grief, during which I read every book I could find on dying and on grief.  I  realized how important this was when our son David died, and I knew what grief was like and could help everyone in the family get through it.

4. What is your greatest hope for your future? What steps can you take to make it happen?
Oh lord...that #45 doesn't become #47.  

5. If you can time travel, what will you tell your teenage self?
Stick with it and finish your college degree.  And floss.

6. Write about the most glorious moment in your life so far.
Well, the first time I gave birth was pretty glorious.  There have been other glorious moments like this:

This is when our kids' band performed.  This is my favorite picture.

7. Write about a moment you feel brave.
Well, most recently, I felt brave when I went in for my colonoscopy!

8.  What made you happy today?
It always makes me happy to watch the squirrels running around in our yard and eating the walnuts I put out for them.  I love watching the dog trying to catch them, hoping desperately that he can learn how to climb a tree.

9. What do you dislike most about growing up?
The thing I dislike most about growing up, when I got out on my own, was the first time I was sick and didn't have my mother there to bring me orange juice, pin a bag to the side of my bed for used tissues, and just check on how I was doing.  I felt very alone

10. Write about ten activities you love the most and why you love them.
* reading
* watching TV
* writing letters to pen pal friends
* going to Santa Barbara to visit Tom and his family
* watching Jeri and Ned playing with Brianna and Lacie
* watching waves in the ocean
* playing Block Puzzle Jewel on my cell phone
* finding wonderful views of San Francisco
* drinking ice water!

11. Do you have an embarrassing moment that still makes you cringe? Write about it in as much detail as you feel comfortable!
I know there are some and I hope I can remember and come back to add it here.

12. What has been your best trip so far?
Our first trip to England, with all five kids.  A week in London, a week in Ireland, and a week back in London again.  It taught us that if we were financially careful, we really could travel internationally and it started all of the trips we have taken since.

 13. Write a list of 5 things (physical or personality-wise) you love about yourself, and why they make you unique.
* I love my sense of humor
* I loved taking care of all those SPCA dogs, especially the orphans
* I love the kids that I sponsor through Compassion Int'l.
* I love writing Funny the World
* I was happy to donate blood regularly for many years until my veins decided they didn't want to be poked any more

14. Discuss 5 things you wish others knew about you.
* I am very shy
* I don't have a lot of friends
* I no longer drive
* There was a time when I was a very good cake decorator
* I write an almost daily journal entry, that almost nobody reads

15. Is social media a blessing or a curse?
Yes!

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I have developed a canker sore

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Puzzles

 Ned and I finally finished the cable car puzzle.

Actually, Walt did four of the last five pieces.  He never works puzzles, but I left four pieces undone and he put them in.  we had one piece left over but the puzzle was done.  Ned decided it must have come from a puzzle that we'd done before.  Then after dinner he said we were all blind.  None of us could see a space for a puzzle piece, but he found it up in the upper left corner, so it was all complete.  Char wants to do the puzzle and has offered to send us one of the puzzles she has been working in the place where she lives.  She will get her granddaughter to bring it to us.  It will be fun to have another big puzzle  to work.

Marta found some puzzles for us and this is what we will be working next:

We have a stack of unworked puzzles and a stack of worked puzzles.  Most of our unworked puzzles are 1000 piece, but there are a couple of 500 and 750 pieces too.  I haven't done this many puzzles since I was a kid.  I'm having great fun! 

I am loving the new Zojirushi cup.  It keeps my water ice cold for over 12 hours and I find I am drinking more water than I have in a long time.  I am eager to get the next one that I ordered so I'll have one for coffee and one for water (one black and one silver).  

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My outgoing mail today!

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Catching up

I was so concerned about my colonoscopy that I just couldn't do any letter writing.  I'd sit down at my desk and find 10 things to do that didn't involve answering letters.  It was weird.

But now that the colonoscopy is over and I've learned I do not have cancer, as I was sure I would learn, I am starting to work through the pile of letters.

I've taken to stamping the date on each envelope when it arrives so I know which order to answer  the letters in.  It's not quite 3 p.m. and I've done a good job of writing.

I have six more letters in the stack.  I should be able to get at least two more done this afternoon and maybe, with luck, finish them tomorrow! 

Who says people don't write letters any more?!

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No San Francisco

We were supposed to go to San Francisco today.  Gilbert's niece was coming to town for a wedding and would have Saturday afternoon free and hoped to see us.  When she told me a few months ago, I put it on the calendar and planned to meet her.  She lives in Kansas and I haven't seen her in about 25 years or more.

As the day got closer, and I heard from her that she would be at a brunch and wasn't sure when she'd be free and I thought about where she was staying--across the street from Ghirardelli Square, in Fisherman's Wharf, I was less enthusiastic.

The traffic would be terrible.  The parking would be pretty much impossible and even if we found a place to park, what would we do?  Walk around Fisherman's Wharf?  Great if you can walk, which I can't.  I have a hard time walking a block.  

So I decided to tell her we couldn't come.  She was disappointed, but understood.

Then it turns out that I had not yet had a bowel movement since my colonoscopy and I finally did...so many times I had to rush to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so.  I was so relieved to think of what would have happened if we had gone to San Francisco!

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An Oscar Weekend

 I've been a big Oscar fan ever since the very first award ceremony was broadcast on TV in 1953,  the year we got our television set.  My mother was a big fan of movies and movie stars and it was our big thing to watch together...and I have just kept watching, though I sometimes think it's pointless when I haven't seen most of the movies and don't recognize most of the "stars"...but I still love the pagentry.

My Oscar weekend started on Saturday when Turner Classic Movies continued to show their month of Oscar winners.  Saturday was a great day.  I watched The Music Man, Judy Garland's A Star Is Born, and American in Paris.  I recorded Fiddler on the Roof and Cabaret, which were on too late and I knew I'd fall asleep if I watched them.

The Sunday broadcast of the Oscars started at 5, but at 3 ABC was on the "red carpet" (this year champagne colored) and that's always fun, seeing the stars interviewed before they enter the theater.  I was most impressed with Melissa McCarthy's dress.  It was designed by Christian Siriano but there was a pipe burst in his studio and the dress was ruined.  He created this dress in a day.

Jimmy Kimmel was the host of the show and I found it one of the more enjoyable Oscar broadcasts that I've seen in the past few years.

Everything Everywhere All at Once was the big winner.  I tried to watch that movie and just couldn't get into it.  Now I'm thinking I should try again. Ke Huy Quan was the first award given out, for supporting actor in Everythng .and his speech was very emotional.

He  talked about fleeing Vietnam and coming to this country in a boat with his father and 5 of his siblings in 1978.  He spent a year in a refugee camp...and now he was standing on the biggest stage in the world.  His tearful thanks went to 84 year old his mother and I confess to being moved to tears.

The other acceptance that moved me to tears was Jamie Lee Curtis, who also won for supporting actor in Everything.

She also gave an emotional speech, thanking everyone she has ever worked with, but it was when she mentioned that both of her parents (Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh) had been nominated in the past she got teary as she spread her arms out and said "I won an Oscar!"

Best musical number went to Naatu Naatu, a Bollywood number from the movie RRR that got everyone tapping their toes.

I checked out the movie, an Indian action film which was entirely too violent for me to stick with it...and definitely nothing like the song itself!

It was fun watching Ke Huy Quan greet Harrison Ford at the end of the show, before the big award was read.

Quan's very first movie role was as "Short Round" in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when he was 12 years old.

So now the Oscars are over for another year and I guess I'm going to have to give Everything Everywhere All at Once  another shot.

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The results

 Nobody realized how scared I was of the colonoscopy.  Not the prep.  Not the procedure, but the results.  It seems everyone in my family was either dead at my age, most from cancer, or had been diagnosed with cancer.  I was convinced that I was going to learn that I had cancer.

It's a new world.

The results are in and everything is OK.  They removed two polyps, neither of which was cancerous or pre-cancerous, but because one was rather large, they want to do another colonoscopy in April to make sure there aren't pre-cancerous polyps.  Now that I know I'm OK for now -- and that the prep isn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be -- having another one in April doesn't scare me at all.   

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The Zojirushi

Was wandering through Amazon yesterday and saw a Zojirushi insulated cup which promises to keep liquids at the same temperature for hours, and also prevent spills.  I prefer my coffee hot, and I spill it frequently, so thought this would be great for me and put it on my Amazon "shopping" list because I wasn't ready to spend that much money yet.

Hours later -- literally -- it was delivered.  I don't know how I accidentally ordered it and I was going to return it, but decided that as long as it was here, I'd try it out.  Didn't have hot coffee, but filled it with ice water somewhere around 5 p.m.  After dinner, while watching Jeopardy at 7, it was still ice cold.  When I woke up at 6 a.m. it was still ice cold.

I was so pleased that I thought I would buy another one, the heck with the cost, so I could have hot hot coffee and cold cold water and not have to worry about spills.

When I went to Amazon, I couldn't find anything about my having purchased it.  And it wasn't on either my wish list or my shopping list.  I was terribly confused, but I did check the "purchased" list on my wish list and it was listed there.  I went to my email to check mail from Amazon and discovered that this was a gift from a Swap Bot partner.  This is for a swap called "Happy Mailbox All Month October." The description reads I like to send somethings from Amazon/etsy/online shop that was inspired by their profile. You can mail 1 letter, postcards, random filled envies of flat goodies your partner may like with a note, notecards and a letter, recipes, a journal entry of your day, really just about anything from their profile or that is intended to make a snail mail junkie smile. 

I sent my partner a gift from her Amazon wish list, but something under $10, not $30.  I am so incredibly grateful!!

And yes, I ordered a second one for coffee.

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The Colonoscopy

 The fluid I had to drink was lemon flavored and really either it didn't taste bad or my taste buds are so bad that I couldn't taste it.  I drank it with apple juice (I'd forgotten how good apple juice is!) and had no trouble getting half a gallon down in 2 hours.  But then there was trying to get to the bathroom in time.  I went through several pairs of Depends and pants and Ned finally put a pad down the hall (left over from Bouncer's last days) because I kept leaving diarrhea in the hall.  For some reason I had zero muscle control of my anus.

I managed to sleep all right and in the morning did it all over again, with the other half of the liquid.  I ended up spending about two hours sitting on the toilet.

(Notice the intercom Ned installed so I could call him if I needed him.  Ned has been amazing, cleaning me -- and the bathroom -- up so often!).  I spent two hours playing the puzzle game I've become addicted to.

And then after noon, we went to Kaiser.  I knew I was in good hands when the nurse assisting me told me that he and his husband had just adopted their second child.  

They did the colonoscopy first and other than being somewhat uncomfortable, especially since I had to lie on my side flat out, which I haven't done in years, it was just fine.  You get to watch the procedure on a monitor, but it wasn't as interesting as Criminal Minds.  The endoscopy was so quick I was hardly aware that it was being done.

The notes say they removed two small polyps and found some internal hemorrhoids.  It doesn't sound like anything serious, though the polyps have to be biopsied and I'll find out the results of the biopsy in a week.  Then they wheeled me down to the entrance in a wheelchair, where Walt and Ned were waiting.

Ned stopped at a Burger King on the way home and we got burgers.  I don't think I've had a burger in a long time that tasted so good!  When we got home, I climbed into the recliner and slept 4 hours.  While I was asleep Walt went out and got mandarins and bananas, so I had fruit to eat when I woke up.

So relieved it's all over.  The general rule is to have a colonoscopy every 10 years and I hope I won't live long enough to have another one!

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

(It's nice to have a son who understands

why you want pictures taken!)

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