It’s Never Too Late

25 years ago I met a sweet young woman who started coming to our church. She worked in the science field and was quiet and kind. She volunteered with the youth group and was a faithful member of our church.

At some point she decided her lab job was not for her. She eventually was hired by our church to work with the youth. She had a giant Great Dane that was more like a small pony that often came to work with her. She did this a while. People at church felt like she could do more in church. She was not as sure, but eventually left the area under the idea she might go to seminary.

Our church is very supportive of members who decide they are called to seminary. I can think of seven people we have supported through seminary and probably the number is higher.

Today this young woman, Rebecca, was ordained at Westminster 25 years after she first joined our church. It was a lovely celebration of her sometimes slow journey. She has been called to be the pastor of a church in Jonesboro, Tennessee. They are very lucky to get her. She is not a normal fresh out of seminary young pastor. She is a person who has spent years exploring her faith and finding many ways to serve it.

I am so happy she has completed this part of her walk. I have no doubt she will be an excellent pastor. As she is an extraordinary human being with many gifts and a generous heart.

New Skill

My week off is almost over. Memorial Day messes up holding mah Jongg classes so I usually take this week off. It turned out I didn’t totally lay off working as I have been having some private lessons on zoom. It is very efficient to learn this way if someone is willing to pay for private. I love doing one-on-one lessons because I can tailor the lesson speed to the person learning. So a few private lessons, just not big classes.

If you know me you know I hate being unproductive. So even on my days off I want to produce or learn something. I have been working on my secret Christmas ornaments and have kept to my one a month schedule. I have a few finishing touches to my fifth one so I should finish before May does.

I could have finished that ornament today, but I wanted to learn a new skill. I am anticipating needing to finish my own needlepoint Christmas ornaments this year for my exchange gifts. I am way behind on getting them stitched and the finishing deadline is going to beat me. So knowing this I wanted to try and learn to finish an ornament to see how it goes.

Since I don’t have an ornament stitched to practice on I used an embroidery piece to test that my friend Anne gave me. The first thing I had to learn was how to make cording. I have a Lasic cording machine that I have never used. It came with pitiful instructions, so I searched you tube and found a few tutorials.

I learned a lot. Mostly that measuring out the thread is harder than I thought it should be. The most important lesson I eventually figured out was to wear the skein like a bracelet so that it does not get tangled. Next time I am going to twist the individual colors more than I did for this one.

I also used the wrong clear thread on the first half and went and found the right thread on the second half. Using the right clear thread is important.

Anyway, I think I finally got the hang of how to finish an ornament by the time I was done with this one. I am glad I had a practice one so I can do a better job on the next one. I think I will try and make a tiny test ornament for myself so I don’t screw up a gift ornament.

This will have to be done next week as I am back to work and travel this week. Looking forward to doing the thing I can do with my eyes closed.

Unhelpful Technology

There is one feature of my electronic life I do not like. If I have you as a contact in my address book your birthday get’s put on my calendar. When I look at my calendar nd it shows five people’s birthday’s on one day it freaks me out. Then when I look more closely I discover that one of the people is some random mortgage broker who lives in Virginia Beach and I have never met.

I don’t know why he is in my address book, but perhaps thirty years ago I contacted him about a mortgage and have never deleted him. He got deleted today.

But then there are birthday’s for people I need to keep in my address book, but I really don’t need their birthday taking up space on my calendar. There are some people in my contact I want to have their birthday in my calendar, but not everyone. I am certain some smart person is going to tell me how to change this. But I don’t want to spend the time to manually go through and say, “Yes” to my friend from college, but “no” to that person I served on a board with.

Sometimes technology is helpful, but sometimes it is just a chore. I just want my calendar to be populated with exactly what I really need to know I am doing so I know if I am busy or not. What am I kidding myself. I know I am busy, I just want to k now if I can fit one more thing into my already busy calendar. And all these random birthdays are deceiving.

The one thing I do know is just being busy does not mean productive. So I would like my calendar to give me a productivity score everyday. Kind of like an adult report card.

I can’t show you a picture of my calendar because someone might think it is their birthday that I think is unimportant for me to know. And it probably is.

Will it Cremi?

For my birthday Russ gave me a Ninja Cremi deluxe machine. It is an ice cream/ sorbet making machine. I had watched some instagram influencers who were addicted to it and so I asked for it.

So far I have made three different items. The first one was a core power vanilla milk with javvy carmel protein coffee. It was a very high protein concoction, like 60 grams of protein in about a cup and a half of “ice cream”. It was no sugar and it was very creamy and yummy.

Next I make a non-fat vanilla Greek yogurt with some frozen peaches and a half teaspoon of honey. It was creamy and good, but it needed more flavor. I add the peaches as an add in after I “creamafied” the yogurt. I think I would do better to make peach sorbet and run it like a Ribbon through the frozen yogurt. Something to try next time.

Tonight I made mango sorbet. This was the best and the easiest. I bought frozen mango chunks from Trader Joe’s. I put them in the cup that goes in the machine and let them thaw a little and mashed them up before refreezing them. (You have to freeze the liquid or fruit for 24 hours before you can make it creami.)

I put the mango on the sorbet setting and ran one cycle. I took the lid off and added a teaspoon of water and did a remix cycle. It was perfect. I put it over some raspberries that were on their last legs. Delicious. The mango was sweet and tangy and smooth and creamy. No protein, which is the real reason I wanted this machine, to get some healthy protein as a dessert. But the mango sorbet would be great ribboned through some core power creamified. I will have to try that next.

Mujadara

After the big clean up of the kitchen I am trying to use up the few things that did not get thrown away. Two big categories were lentils and rice. So I decided to make one of my favorite Arabic dishes, mujadara. This is literally lentils, rice and caramelized onions. It is an almost perfect food.

I am no expert in arabic cooking, but I love all those Mediterranean cuisines and flavors. This could not be easier. You slice lots of onions a thinly as possible, at least three big ones, but more is better and slow cook them with some olive oil in a large fry pan until they turn warm brown. Stir often.

Separately in a big pot, put five cups of water, 4 tablespoons spoons of minced garlic, 3 bay leaves, 1 T. Cumin, 1 T. Salt and a lot of fresh ground pepper. Add 1 C. Of green or brown dried lentils. Bring the pot to a boil and reduce to simmer and cook for ten minutes from the time you turned the heat on.

After ten minutes add a cup of basmati rice. Stir and cover the pot and simmer the whole thing for another 15 minutes. Taste for doneness and if done right all the water should be used up. Take the pot off the heat. Cover with a clean dish towel and then the pot lid. Let sit for ten minutes.

Chop a big handful of cilantro. Add then onions and cilantro to the lentil/rice pot. Taste for salt and pepper.

Serve with some yoghurt and a hot sauce if you like heat.

This keeps well in the fridge for many days. Can be a main dish, or a side with some protein.

Summer Mah Jongg Schedule

I have a big summer. Carter and Claire are getting married in June and we can hardly wait. Russ and I will be taking a little vacation right after the wedding to go to Quebec City. When we are in Maine in August we have Shay with us so taking side trips, like to Canada, is difficult. Since Shay is not coming to the wedding we thought this would be a great opportunity for a side trip.

Also this is a two times to Maine summer. Once for the wedding and then again for our vacation. What a treat.

With all this going on I am not teaching at the beach as much as usual. I am teaching two beginner classes at the Dunes Club next week June 2-4. I think there may still be seats in the afternoon class. Dunes club is very nice about allowing non-members to join the class. Just call them to register.

I have a beyond beginner class in Durham at my house the second week of June, 8-10. If you know how to play and want to win more this is your chance to improve your strategy. Contact me to get in that class.

I will be at the figure eight Island club July 14-16, for beginners and Beyond Beginners. Club members take priority, but call the club to register. I will be at Home for entertaining in Cary July 21-23, both beginners and beyond. Look at their website to register http://www.homeforentertaining.com.

Today I found out I am going back to Lyford July 26-29. Fourth time in eight months. I will be doing beginner and beyond and look forward to see my friends in the Bahamas.

The first week of August I will be at Coral Bay club and we have beginners and Beyond and on the Friday here will be a fun and friendly tournament with a fabulous surprise sponsor. I hope to see many friends there.

I think I will be in Boston teaching the second week. Details on that to follow.

If you haven’t learned how to play, or want your friends and family to learn summer is the perfect time.

You can find details on my website, after I ask Russ to update it. Www.learnmahjongg.com. Looking forward to a fun summer of travel to so many fabulous places and sharing mah Jongg.

Treasure Found?

I have had a very lazy Memorial Day. The one thing I did do was clean out the junk drawers in the kitchen. Junk is not the right word. They are the drawers of random important stuff that is not cooking related, for the most part. Pens, batteries, bag clips, glue, Shay Medicines. Important stuff, but stuff that get’s easily disorganized.

I threw away a lot of old rubber bands and twist ties, about 100 corks, dried up pens, spilled toothpicks and dead batteries. There was pen I found that I could not bring myself to throw away.

It is a wooden Pinocchio pen with Carter’s name on the hat. It hasn’t worked for some years, but has remained in the junk drawer ever hopeful. We bought this pen in the small Tuscan village of Collodi, home of Pinocchio, that we visited with Carter in 2008. It was a magical trip of two weeks in Tuscany in the summer before the stock market crash. I am ever thankful we took that trip without the knowledge of what would happen to the economy just four months later.

I guess because of the crash, I felt like that little wooden pen held more value than it should. All the extravagant travel which we had done so freely the previous years probably was more well thought out after the crash.

So when the pen ran out of ink I held on to it. Thankfully, we continued to travel and other pens were purchased. So today when I was testing pens in the junk drawer I did not hesitate to thrown anything inkless away, except for Pinocchio.

It is such a beautiful little treasure that holds so much memory of a wonderful trip I just could not throw it away. So I left it on the counter to think about.

Then it came to me. I am going to tie a red and Green ribbon around it and turn it into a Christmas tree ornament. The Italian flag colors of Red, green and white make it the perfect Christmas decoration. This way I can keep it in a useful and beautiful way. A memory of our day in Collodi and Carter as a young girl.

Russ Deserves a Bonus

We live in an old house with it’s original Kitchen layout and cabinets. It is not so old or so fancy that we have a pantry. That means we just have old and not well outfitted cabinets for our dry food.

Sometimes, and by sometimes I mean always, dry goods go in a cabinet and get forgotten. Do we already have orzo? I am not sure. Buy another package. How many different kinds of rice do we have? This could be a game show question. White long grain, brown, abroio, wild, black, sushi, short grain, medium grain. Does rice go bad? Probably not for a long time.

Do we have black lentils? Not, just brown, green and red. If the recipe calls for black which is the next best color? Well, it’s not red. Try brown it’s the next closest color to black.

The project of the weekend was to clean out the bottom dry food cabinets. Russ had an incentive program to get this done with a very good payout system. So he got up early this morning and took everything out of these two cabinets and cleaned them. It is amazing how much stuff and fit in one wooden box.

He did this all before church, and church was an hour earlier this week. My job came after church. If look at everything and decide what should stay and what should get tossed. Organic canned pumpkin with a best by date of 2014 was a no brainer. Could do different brands of brown rice get combined into one container? Let’s live big and say yes.

Four trash bags later that were too heavy for me to lift and all the decisions were made and everything was put away. The putting away took about two minutes. Not much left, but still more than we will eat in the next three months of dry and canned food.

I will be exploring the rice around the world recipes. Russ will be getting his incentive plan pay offs. He did not ask for any bonus when he went and vacuumed up a garage cabinet and blew out any stray leaves, but he could have.

Forty Year Difference

In my twenties Memorial Day weekend was the start of my summer share house with my friends. After work on Friday we would all drive out to Rehoboth in the horrible holiday weekend traffic in anticipation of a great summer at the beach.

I would make the beds in my pink Marcia Brady room. Changing out the bedspreads that came with the house for prettier floral comforters. The stuffed animal prizes I had won the summer(s) before wac-a-mole were still lined up on the rafters of my room. I swear the owners of our North Shore Home must never have gone in the bedrooms that lined my side of the house because everything was just as we left it the summer before. I could have left the comforters from one summer to the next, but never did.

I would bring my beach bike and put it in the outdoor closet along with my beach chair. On weekend mornings I often would ride my bike to the blue moon bakery and get lemon blueberry danish before they sold out and bring them back to my friends who were still asleep from the night before’s activities.

Eventually people arose and we trekked out to beach, coolers, chairs and towels in tow. Never did we have an umbrella. This was the eighties. We often recognized other young people from previous summers, but as a house of ten, we were a well formed group unto ourselves. Happy to tell stories and ride waves until it was time to go back and shower and make dinner before we went out for the night. Sometimes we stayed in and sat in the hot tub that was the center of our screened-in outdoor lanai. Then we just told more stories at a louder level over the jets of the hot tub.

Oh how times have changed. Today Russ and I cleaned out the cabinet under the kitchen sink and were thrilled with that activity. We stayed home all day puttering around, eventually I showered in the late afternoon and just put on my night gown since it was four in the afternoon.

The only thing that has stayed the same in the last forty memorial days is that I did not get around to showering until the late afternoon.

Farewell to the Late Show and Stephen Colbert

I have not been much of a late night TV watcher for many decades. I just go to bed too early. But back in my youth I had a boyfriend who watched David Letterman religiously and I took to watching too. I did not always get the bits, but I loved the guests. I probably was more of a Johnny gal.

Over the years I have come to appreciate the late night TV shows for being good commentary on what was going on in the country. The monologue’s could be rewatched the morning after and I appreciated their take on current events. Even more so as traditional media became less objective. When morning shows turned into catalogue sales channels, rather than news I almost totally stopped watching.

So when CBS, once a stalwart of objective news coverage, got taken over by a one sided monster that was it for me. Then they canceled Colbert and I watched him a little more closely since he was seemingly one of the few at CBS speaking truth to power.

I stayed up last night to watch his final show. Although he did not mention the true cause for his firing by name, he instead rose above it and had some fun with great guests. Having Sir Paul McCartney was a brilliant way to end. The Music with Jon Baptiste and Elvis Costello and Sir Paul was great.

I am not worried about Colbert landing on his feet. His popularity was never in question. I just hope he keeps voicing his opinions so the world can be smarter. As for CBS, I am just not going to watch them ever again. 60 minutes has already slid down, but it is CBS Sunday morning I will miss the most. I just can’t support a network which so clearly does not share my values.

These days I try and chose to spend my money and my time only with people and entities that share my values and I am not shy about it. It is hard, but worth it.

Three Surprise Gifts

People are so nice. Today I had three surprise gifts. Two came from students in a class. Independently they each gave me a very lovely card in which they wrote me kind words that meant everything to me. The words would have been enough, but they each included a generous gift card to me. What a nice surprise.

Then when I got home there was a package from a store that I did not expect. It was a birthday gift from my friend Suzanne. I had admired this beautiful blouse she wore at Carter and Claire’s shower. So she sent me a blouse from the same maker.

I tried it on and was unsure if it was a blouse or a jacket because it was so big. I sent Suzanne the photo of it and she said it was TOO BIG. So I am going to send it back to get the right one. But it was so lovely of her to even remember my birthday and send a gift.

I’m just not used to getting gifts that are too big. I am also not used to getting so many gift from students. Honestly the students are the gift. I really enjoy teaching people more than one class because I love getting to know them and seeing their progress.

People are my favorite gift.

HApPy BirThDaY BAby ShAy

The baby Shay is 15 years old today. It is hard to believe she has only been in our family that long. I know we all feel like she has always been with us.

She is the princess of the family. She took a that roll from Carter the second she got here and has never relinquished the throne.

Happy Birthday to the best dog. We love you and promise you will always get chicken for dinner.

Internet Shopping

Sometimes I see things advertised on Facebook or Instagram and I think, “that is too good to be true.” Usually the price is cheep and so I wonder about the quality.

Fearing that I might be wasting my money,more often than not I skip ordering an item out of the unknown. But every once in a while I say, “go on.” And order the Facebook advertised item.

This was the case in watch bands for my Apple Watch. The bands looked like something from Hermes. I could have ordered one, not the buy two get three free offer was just too good. So I ordered five watch bands.

They turned out to be way better than I anticipated. I love the colors and the materials are good. Time will tell how long they hold up. But with $79 for five watch bands what did I have to lose?

Thanks Virginia Living Magazine

A nice young woman, Gaby Gonçalves, came to my mah Jongg class at the Tides Inn last October. She was in the beginner class and took to the game like a fish to water. A couple of months ago she called me to interview me for an article in Virginia Living Magazine she was writing about mah Jongg.

I came home to a copy of the magazine. One of my quotes in the article was , “Most of the time you are going to lose, but you will be happy for the winner.” This is something I try an impress upon all my students.

It’s so funny that this article includes that bit of information. I only recently heard from a student about someone she played with, who I did not teach to play mah Jongg, who does not follow this bit of advice. Instead she discounts the glory to the winner, by saying things like, “Well, I was trying a very hard hand.” Or, “I was only one tile away.”

I want everyone to have the kind of sportsmanship that makes people love to play with them. When someone else claims mah Jongg, take a beat and look at their hand to verify their win, before you show or say anything about your hand. Congratulate the winner. Give her her moment in the sun.

Only after that, if you really feel the need, you can reveal your hand. But please do not say anything like, “I gave you a chance by playing a closed hand,” or “I would have won too if I had 3 jokers.” Maybe, but maybe not. Don’t belittle another’s win.

In mah Jongg if someone wins, there is one winner and three losers. No participation ribbon. You have to get good with losing. The beauty of mah Jongg is you learn the lesson that losing a game is not life altering and you live to play another.

I don’t care how good a player you are, you are going to lose. I played with my friend Jan yesterday and I lost the first four games. Did it make my time playing bad? Not at all. The game’s the thing and the friendship that goes with it. Win or lose you are still having fun.

May 17

Today Russ and I were with Jan and Rex and it is their anniversary. It also is my father’s birthday. If he were still with us he would be 88 today. And it is my cousin Leigh’s birthday.

So May 17 is a big day. My dad was two weeks shy of his 23 birthday when I was born. I can not imagine having a child at that age. So when I was a kid he was young. He was also lots of fun and very funny.

Other people’s fathers were not half as fun. It was one thing about my childhood that was a constant. As he aged he got less funny and I am certain that what I thought was funny and what he thought were funny changed in different directions.

But growing up with a fun loving Dad was great. So on this day that he came into the world I want to remember only the fun parts. One unique thing he created was “children’s day.” Kind of like mother’s and Father’s Day, but for the kids. We never knew when children’s day was going to happen. It was always a surprise.

He would wake us up and tell us it was children’s day and then tell us what adventure was going to happen. It always started with going out for breakfast. You have to understand what a big deal it was to go out to eat for any meal, but breakfast out only happened on children;s day or vacation.

Then we would go some place exciting like mystic seaport, or the car show in New York City, or the circus. It was all fun and the surprises happened all day. Father’s Day was never as great as children’s day. I wish I could go back and recreate something like that for him.

I hope that someday I get to have grandchildren so I can surprise them with children’s day. And I will tell them that their great grandfather invented it and tell them stories about how fun he was.

West Jefferson, Who Knew?

Today we woke up to a beautiful day here in the North Carolina Mountains. Since we had no agenda at all Jan and Rex suggested we go to see the town of West Jeffrerson. I have lived in North Carolina for 33 adult years. We won’t count my birth year in NC. In those 33 years I never really heard a thing about West Jefferson.

Having so little advance knowledge I did not expect much, maybe a cafe, or coffee shop, maybe a hardware store and grocery. I asked Jan and Rex about how many people lived in West Jefferson. Rex guessed about 1,400. That made me downgrade my expectations.

So when we pulled into this very cute town full of independent stores with clothing, home goods, mountaineering equipment, as well as multiple breweries, restaurants, a boutique hotel and the giant Ashe County Cheese company I was taken aback.

We spent hours strolling the downtown, shopping, which you know I usually hate, and eating lunch outdoors. Shay made many friends in West Jeff and the hostess at lunch when we inquired about a table said, “Shay could sit anywhere she wanted.” Shay did receive a bowl of ice water long before any asked us humans if we wanted a drink.

After we went back to Jan and Rex’s we hiked a trail to get to a meadow in their neighborhood that had the most glorious panoramic view of many mountains. No photo could ever do it justice. We sat in the Adirondack chairs in the meadow enjoying the view and each other. What a day.

Mountain Talk Time

I got a text from my friend Jan this morning, “I’m packing the car and running early.” I typed back, “Who are you and what have you done with Jan?”

Russ and I were invited for the weekend to Jan and Rex’s Mountain house in Todd. The plan was Jan would pick me up after 10:00 and we would head up early and Russ would pick Rex up after 3:00 and they would come later. But Jan walked in my house at 9:45 and our adventure started early. All good with me. I was packed and ready.

We made the drive in what felt like a minute since we talked non-stop when we are together. We had a lot to catch up on. The dogs where perfect passengers and never interrupted our conversation.

It took a while to unpack Jan’s big “Texas” suburban. I put the groceries away, I thought. Until we went to make lunch and discovered we still had a cooler of meat in the depths of the “texas” that had gone unnoticed.

The day was beautiful so after lunch we got the cushions out for all the chairs and we sat outside and talked more. Eventually we decided we should go for a walk with the dogs. Jan found a big stick that looked like a fishing pole with a fish on the line and played with it with her dog Crocket. Shay was just trying to not have nature get too close to her.

Russ and Rex were on their way so Jan and I did some meal prep for dinner tonight and dinner tomorrow. When they arrived we sat down for a Greek salad with chicken with some cheese quesadilla on the side. We watched some Tennessee college softball, then base ball and never stopped talking.

My guess, we will be talking all day tomorrow. You can bet money on it.

A Generous Friend

A couple of years ago I made a very good friend, Susanne, at mah Jongg class. She does not live anywhere near me, but she travels to come learn with me regularly and because of that has become a close friend.

Kind and generous would be two of the first words I would use to describe her, among many good words like fun, curious, friendly and outgoing. Susanne was with me at the Tides Inn last week and was not only a good student, but a great help to me. When beginners needed someone to play with them she was always willing to help.

One thing we noticed is the tables we played on there were made of big wood, which seemed to echo the sounds of the tiles being discarded. Because we had so many tables it could be quite noisy.

Susanne took it upon herself to provide me with a dozen game mats so when students are learning it can be quieter. “A more conducive learning environment.”

So today a big Amazon box of mats arrived at my house. So a sweet gift from such a kind friend. I will have to open them up and roll them so they fit in their carry cases that came with them. I have the perfect bag to carry them in. Another gift from Susanne, that she designed. The “what would Dana do” Mah Jongg giant tote.

I can’t wait for her to see all her creations at the next resort class she comes to. Of course those mats will get used at all my classes. All thanks to Susanne.

New and Old

Today I had two fun friend times. The first was a birthday lunch with my dear long time friend Sara. We don’t have the same hobbies. As she says, she is good at large muscle activities and I am good at small muscle, but we share so much else. We have dogs who are related to each other, we agree on major political issues and find the similar things funny and enraging.

We also are busy, but when she calls I am always so happy to make sure we see each other. So Lunch at the Nasher outside on the terrace was a great way to spend part of the day.

The other part was talking with a “New” friend. We had a shared connection, but did not know each other. Mah Jongg brought us together recently, but we should have known each other years ago and just did not.

Sometimes when you talk with a new person it feels like you have known each other for a long time and sometimes you can talk with someone for years and you still feel a disconnect. My new friend is the former.

It is a year since we lost Holley Broughton, who was a friend to every person she ever spoke to, no matter how in consequential the meeting. One thing she taught me is always keep making new friends while cherishing the old ones. It seemed fitting on this anniversary of losing Holley B. that I spent time with an old friend and made a new one.

Tell your friends how much they mean to you. We just don’t know how long we will get with them.

Mother’s Day Plus Two

Russ made Mother’s Day happen for me and my mother with a dinner out tonight. He gets all the credit for going to pickup my Mom and handle her digital correspondence before meeting me at the WaDu.

There is nothing my Mom likes better than Russ picking up the check. We had a lovely dinner discussing all things medical and investments, which my mother tells me is all you need to discuss once you are a senior citizen, which we both are.

She had missed my mother’s day call to her. Since she didn’t answer I left a voice mail. She never thought to look at her voice mail, but she worried that something bad had happened to me since she had not heard from me. I was a senior citizen after all and bad medical things can happen at the drop of a hat. So she worried.

Pre-worrying is what I call it. She was worrying about something that had not happened and she could have not worried if she had just looked at her phone and seen that I had called.

At least now she saw I was fine and she got a Mother’s Day dinner, just two days late. The good thing is the WaDu was back to their regular menu and not the graduation weekend menu which is greatly reduced in the number of choices.

All is good in the world now. My mother can worry about something else.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

I worked today in Wilmington. That meant I drove over two hours, held class and a luncheon at the class, drove home. Now I am exhausted, but officially done with new card classes for the year.

I am taking the rest of the week off! My first week off in months. I know it’s time to take a small rest because I had two mah Jongg nightmares last night. Probably because Russ and I watched the hallmark Mah Jongg movie.

It was my worst nightmare that someone who does not really know how to teach Mahjongg is holding classes and F’ing in all up. Please people. If you have only been playing for a year or two you don’t know enough to teach because you don’t know what you don’t know. And for goodness sake stop publishing stuff online you made with AI.

The number of things that students send to me asking, “Is this true?” Is overwhelming and most of it is wrong. But if you have not been playing that long and you ask AI to analyze it for you you don’t know enough to know when it is wrong.

As Miranda would say, “That is all.”

No Mother’s Day In Durham Today

I had a perfectly lovely Mother’s Day at home. We went to church and came home and stayed home. I did not go out with my mother, or go out anywhere.

This is not a just this year occurrence. You can’t celebrate Mother’s Day in Durham, or Chapel Hill on Mother’s Day. It’s not a law, or a rule. It is the fact that it is graduation day from both Duke and Chapel Hill today.

I have no idea why those two giant schools, nine miles apart do not get together and agree to have graduations on different days. I know they don’t care about the mother’s in the cities who have nothing to do with the schools, but what about the families of the students?

There are not enough hotel rooms or restaurants in the area to adsorb all these people.

So to all the local mother’s who stayed home today, happy no meals out Mother’s Day! Russ, knowing this problem, preempted Mother’s Day and planned a lunch out with Lynn and Logan yesterday in Saxapahaw. He figured it was far enough away from the graduation celebrations and he was right!

Happy Mother’s Day to my mother. We will celebrate in a couple of days.

Will It Creami?

Russ was so excited when I told him of an actual gift I wanted for my birthday. I had watched a bunch of influencers on instagram make ice cream, sorbet and frozen yoghurt with the Ninja Creami machine. They called it, “will it creami?” They tested things like red wine. Not want I wanted. But also just straight up mangos. Yes, please.

So Russ purchased the deluxe model. I mixed up a high protein fairlife and some javvy caramel protein coffee and put it in the freezer before I went way last week. And so today I ran it through the machine. Did it Creami? Yes, yes it did.

It made the best tasting coffee ice cream I have ever had, with quadruple the protein and no sugar. I have some pineapple to try next and a mango which needs to ripen.

Now I am wondering if it is OK to eat protein coffee ice cream for breakfast. It is exactly the same thing I make as a shake, but in ice cream form. Do you think my body will know not to treat it as ice cream? Some part of me thinks that anything that good tasting must be actually bad for me. My body is going to say, “No tricking us. This is not healthy.”

We shall see how my body does on the all fruit version. But if I can make all fruit taste like ice cream, well… that means ice cream at every meal.

Behind on Thank You Notes

I know I am behind on writing thank you notes for my birthday. It is no excuse that I worked on my Birthday, driving to Virginia for a week’s class. I was planning on getting them done today, but I had a last minute class come up. So tomorrow I will get on them.

I am still discovering kind messages on Facebook. I am not sure why I am only seeing messages that say they were written five days ago, but I am. Thank you for all the kind words and remembrances. One of the best was 65 memories from my sister Janet.

I am terrible at remembering people’s birthdays. I never send cards and rarely a gift. I do take people out to lunch if they are local with me. So Facebook saves me. It tells me when someone’s birthday is and gives me a portal to wish them the happiest day.

Sadly, today, two friends, Nestor and Jennifer, both have birthday’s today, but both passed away too young. Facebook still says it is their birthday because they must still have accounts. So today I paused and thought of them both. Interestingly I often saw them together as Jennifer worked out with me at the gym where Nestor worked.

Facebook may have it’s detractions, but I think for birthday’s it is tops. Thanks to all the friends who reached out in one fashion or another. It did not go unnoticed by me, even if you don’t know that…yet.

Beat The Teacher!

Last day of Mah Jongg camp at the Tides Inn was all about fun. We had a game playing session. Beyond beginners were so nice to play with beginners and help them. New friends played with new friends and a couple of students got to play with me.

The last game Emily got to play Siamese with me. That meant she had to get two mah Jongg before I got two mah Jongg. I got the first one and she said, “The pressure!” She went on to get two mah Jongg at once and BEAT ME! The room clapped for her and we took a picture!

It was a fun and successful week and we have already planned the next Mah Jongg camp at Tides for November. What I love is that people return so they can see the friends they made at the last camp. It is just like real camp where you make life long friends.

I wish I could have stuck around at Tides and done all the fun activities, but I needed to come home. Since I was going near Richmond I gave my friends Susanne and Tracey a ride to Richmond so they did not need to take an hour uber ride.

Riding with them for a third of my drive helped pass the time. It was a great week with them. I am already looking forward to being back at Tides with old friends and meeting new ones.

Helpful Students

I love helpful students. I think people learn so much from their fellow students. Listening to people help each other makes my heart happy. Hearing how people talk about what they would do in a situation and then explore other people’s points of view is the best way to learn.

There is almost always more than one way to get from point A to Point B. Why not learn multiple ways to do it?

At Tides this week I have had lots of helpers. Melissa helping hold my pointer was priceless. Susanne and Tracey writing up the privet hands was invaluable. Emily and Will tracking the “Danaisms.” Ashley carrying my heavy bag up the stairs. Or the nice student who brought me a cookie.

I appreciate the people who cheered for a table mates first winning hand. Or who explained why someone could not call for a pair, or let someone make a joker exchange, even though they discarded the tile by mistake first.

Learning a new skill means you are going to make mistakes, but offering grace to others makes it all feel friendlier. Not being judgemental makes you a welcome opponent.

The best students are good listeners, great question askers, and thoughtful commenters. They also do not feel the need to impress upon me their expertise.

I am here to help you learn, but not to give you a grade. There is no class ranking, except the one in my mind of all the helpful students. I appreciate all the help you give each other and me.

Tides Two

Mah Jongg Camp day two is twice as much fun as day one. By day two all the “campers” have made friends with each other. The laughter rings out across the resort. The beginners actually learned how to play and got three games in during class. I was quite happy with how well they played. I forgot to take their photos, but will tomorrow.

The beyond beginners are such a joy. We had great games and lots of laughs with the learning. Zoë is the youngest student of about ten years old. Thankfully I have been able to keep my language PG, but with great restraint. But she is smart and happy to participate. She, along with her mother and grandmother made the whole class Mah Jongg key chains from old tiles they were given. At the end of class today they let everyone chose one as their gifts and they gave me two of them.

Melissa and Ashley gave me a joker luggage tag they had made for class. I left class today with so many cute presents.

I had lunch today with Teresa and Scott, who first took mah Jongg from me four years ago in Raleigh and have travelled where ever they need to come to my classes. They married each other five years ago after each losing a spouse and it is so cute that they play mah Jongg together everywhere they go.

Tonight we had mah Jongg group dinner. I sat with Emily and William, Melissa and Ashley and Tara. This is all their return trip to mah Jongg camp. It is so much fun to get to know all their stories.

I love Tides Inn camp more than you can know.

Tides Time

The Tides Inn just re-opened after a renovation. It is even more beautiful than before. I was worried about mah Jongg camp registrations while Tides was closed. There was nothing to worry about.

Such a wonderful group of students from the October class returned for this camp and a whole lot of new people joined us. I have people from far and wide and I haven’t even had a chance to ask most of them where they came from. So far I have talked with people from Florida, Cincinnati, the outer banks, Nashville, Charlottesville, Washington DC and Richmond.

The weather could not be more perfect. It warmed up today and after all the classes we had a cocktail party on the beach. The only bad thing was my sun glasses were in my car and it was very sunny.

I was most happy that Emily and Will brought their frenchie Gigi back to the Tides to enjoy Mah Jongg camp.

I am doing an excellent job teaching people because tonight Tracey and Suzanne beat me at all the games we played. Great job ladies. I might have to start drinking martinis to try and beat you.

Happy Official Old Person

65 ain’t so bad. I got a few moments with Carter before Russ dropped her off at the airport. I packed at home and when Russ got back we went to vin rouge for breakfast. It was fast, but lovely.

I had a long drive to the Tides Inn in Irvington VA. Mah Jongg camp starts in the morning. While I waited for my room I read all the nice messages from so many friends and family. One of the best was a list of 65 memories from my baby sister Janet. It was a great list and only one of them I did not remember. Something about an answering machine message. I am 65 after all. I’m sure she will give me more details on it and then it will come flooding back.

While waiting for my room I saw fun students who I taught here in October who came back again. That makes me so happy to have people return and then we become friends.

Susanne and Tracey came from Florida and made it a birthday party for me. Susanne had the tides make me a mah Jongg birthday cake which was in my room. I brought it to dinner to share with everyone. When I arrived at the table Susanne also had another gift for me. A giant tote bag with “What would Dana Do?” And mah Jongg tiles painted on it! The girl knows I love a tote bag! This is definitely my mah Jongg tote bag birthday.

We shared cake with Melissa and Sarah and Will and Emily and some others. Then Susanne and Tracey and I went to play mah Jongg after dinner. Tracey beat me twice so that was a good present for her.

At my age I better try and go to sleep. I have a full days work early tomorrow. I may be old, but I am not retired. Thanks to all the friends who made it a great day.

Happy Everything Weekend

Today Russ Lange and I have been married 34 year. He woke me up with two sweet cards and I had none for him. In my defense I was going to buy cards yesterday and Carter was here for a surprise so I did not go out. I promise to write something loving and heartfelt to him. He knows he is my everything.

I wanted to get in as much time with Carter as I could so we did what we do best. We played mah Jongg. It was so much fun. Then I had to open a bunch of birthday presents since Carter is leaving early in the morning and I am leaving right after Russ and I go out for breakfast.

Carter made me a Needlepoint patch bag and she finished it herself. It is the most wonderful gift and I will cherish it always. She is getting to be such a great stitcher.

The next present was a poster Carter and Russ made by asking different friends one word to describe me. What a sweet gift not just from them, but all my friends who participated. I am happy there are only a few swear words. Thank you to all my friends who answered Russ’ request. Carter shared the spread sheet of who said what, so I know where the swear words came from. And I agree.

We had the most fun Kentucky Derby Party to go to at Michelle and Boris’. Boris baked a fabulous coconut cake for my birthday and they sang happy birthday which was so sweet. We were all very excited that the first female trainer won in Derby history. Carter had a great time catching up with Elena. We wish Benjamin was there.

More presents at home after the party and now I have a Ninja Cremi machine so come over for ice cream when I get home from the Tides Inn next week.

It has been a wonderful anniversary/Birthday weekend. I still have an actual birthday tomorrow. How lucky I feel to be surrounded by all this love.

Screaming Surprise

Apparently I was remiss in putting everything I am doing on my calendar. Today I had a birthday lunch with my friends Lynn, Shelayne and Stephanie. It was not on my calendar, but I knew Lynn was picking me up at 11:45.

We went to Thai Cafe to have our annual birthday lunch. It was loads of fun and Lynn Stephanie and I stayed a long, long time almost shutting the place down.

Lynn brought me home and we sat in her car laughing about inane things we always laugh about. We must have been in the driveway about 15 minutes and just as I was getting out of her car I screamed. Lynn said it was the loudest scream she had ever heard from me.

Carter, who I was not expecting, came walking out of the house! The best birthday surprise ever.

Russ apparently had stolen my phone and told Carter that I had nothing on my calendar today so I would be available when she flew in from Boston. Thank goodness Lynn picked me up for lunch so she brought me home. I had errands I was going to run this afternoon, which were also not on my calendar.

When Russ does not have an anniversary card tomorrow it will be because Carter came home to surprise me.

The best surprise that I was not suspecting!