Democrats Need Past Presidents to Negotiate a Slate

Thomas Friedman wrote a fabulous Op-Ed in the New York Times this morning called, “Dems, You Can Defeat Trump in a Landslide.” It laid out the strategy that all the Democratic candidates agree to be in the cabinet and work together as a team of rivals. It is a brilliant idea to shut Trump down by saying, “We are smarter working together.”

I want to take this idea one step further to actually get it done, sooner rather than later. I would like Presidents Obama, Clinton and Carter, the only living past Democratic presidents to convene a meeting of all the candidates, including some who have already dropped out. Lock everyone in a room and hash out who would be best for which job and present themselves as a slate right now. Not after the primaries.

Instead use this election time to work out real plans about how to fix all the things Trump has dismantled as well as the hard stuff Trump just runs away from like health care and climate change. Then the “cabinet” would campaign in unison to beat Trump.

Democrats talk about being a big tent and this would be the best way to keep everyone in the tent and not alienate one or more factions of the party. But this takes leadership and the only way I think it could happen is if the past Presidents step in to negotiate the whole thing.

If four or more candidates would agree to this plan all the rest would have to come along. It would take ego out running for President and we all know what ego has gotten us. It would also stop the Democrats fighting in debates which is not really helping anyone.

Being a good debater is not a very important skill in being a good President, except for getting elected. I would rather have the best managers running the country. Who knows Barack, Bill and Jimmy and could get them on this right away? Can someone call them? We really can’t wait any longer, especially now that Trump just punted fighting the CoronaVirus off to Pence. Talk about not qualified.

Fat Tuesday for Good

It’s a busy day in Durham. How do I know? It took forever to get downtown for Russ and I to get to a Planned Parenthood event at the Rick House. The Donna Summer musical is at DPAC and we had to drive through those people trying to park. Just as we got past DPAC we ran into a huge parade of twinkling light wearing people marching from the Bull towards Central. Turns out it was a Mardi Gras Parade. Since we were going in the same vernal direction we turned away from the parade and made a detour. At last we reached the Rick House, but all the businesses around it were also full of party goers.

Our friend Michelle Berrey is on the board of the South Atlantic Planned Parenthood and invited us to join her and her husband Richard at this fun event. Chefs from all around the area donated their time and food to support women’s health services.

Planned Parenthood provides important services that need protecting while men in Washington have done everything to defund Planned Parenthood. What these men tend to forget is they all were born to women who needed prenatal care.

Given all the fun options in Durham tonight I was happy that we pushed through the crowds to support Planned Parenthood.

No Cone Sleeping

First I must confess that we are the kind of people who let out dog sleep on our bed. She is small, doesn’t shed and is a lovey. I know the world is divided up between those who make the dog sleep in the mud room and those who let her sleep on the bed and we are the bad kind of puppy parents.

Usually this is not an issue. She snuggles with her chosen human and even moves beds when one person leaves one bed to go sleep in another. Well, as long as that human leaves before five AM. After five she stays put in her original bed.

Yesterday Shay developed a bad hot spot on her left flank. These things always start on weekend when her vet is closed. It was a bad one, so we bought her a flexible cone to keep her from licking at her hot spot. The cone was fine while Shay was up and about, but come bed time she was a mess.

Russ migrated beds early leaving Shay with me. The only problem is Shay could not get comfortable and she moved around the whole bed from ten until one in the morning. When I couldn’t take it anymore I took the cone off and she left and went to sleep with Russ. After all the trouble I endured you would have thought she might stay with me.

Thankfully this morning the vet saw her. We put the cone back on for the daytime, but the vet said she did not have to sleep in it. Good thing since she could not sleep in it. Besides the regular antibiotics and anti-itch meds we also got a mild sedative so she can sleep tonight. I should have asked for one for myself. After last night I need a good solid night’s sleep tonight.

First Cone of Shame

It never fails that Shay gets a hot spot on a Sunday when the vet is closed. She had been acting strangely yesterday, but we didn’t notice where she was licking the hair off a place on her backside until it was raw. I sent Russ to buy her a cone of shame after Church today.

Shay has never had to wear a cone before so she didn’t find us putting it on her, but once it was on she looked at us as if we betrayed her. I tried to tell her is was a softer cone with windows for peripheral vision than most, but she wasn’t having any of it.

Shay kept running into walls as she tried her best to navigate the house. Between the hot spot and the cone getting comfortable was not easy for her. The only good thing is she had no trouble eating her food as the cone fit over her whole bowl.

Morning can’t come fast enough for me to call the vet and get Shay seen. Being a puppy Mom is normally joyful, but sometimes it is hard when you can’t explain why you appear to be torturing her.

Don’t Be Lonely

I’ve been reading a lot about how lonely people are these days. There was a sad news story about a man who died alone in his house and no one knew for weeks because he had no close friends or relatives and no one checked on him. This loss of belonging to any sort of community is not just an American thing, but it certainly will continue to add to the down fall of America.

Some people blame social media for making us less actually connected. Yes, it is easy to not have to talk with real people if you can just read about them, but that cannot be the only cause of the increase in loneliness.

I feel like we live in a delivery world. If you want something, someone just brings it to you. People don’t have to go to a restaurant to eat or the movies to see a film and they just get lazy and stay home. Being lonely is something that happens to you when you don’t work at being friends and making new friends gets much harder the older you get. Also, as you age your friends don’t always live as long as you do and there is not much you can do about that, except get younger friends.

There are lots of places you can go to combat loneliness, like the senior center, if you are old enough, the YMCA, clubs, the library, you can volunteer at non-profits, or you can join a church. Church membership is way down. I first blame the evangelical movement for pushing out people who are not right wing or sheep-like followers. Some churches attract people of narrow vision and are not welcoming to people with varying opinions. This has hurt church membership as a whole.

I feel very lucky (notice I did not say blessed, a term I feel has been co-opted by the right) that we have a church made of many different kinds of people with a spectrum of beliefs. No one at our church tells you what to believe. The one thing I particularly enjoy about our church is that we are a community. I know more people, of all ages I would never have any other contact with if we did not go to church together. My church is one of the best antidotes to loneliness, not that this has been an issue for me yet, but I am getting older.

No one is going to create a community for you. You have to do it for yourself. Don’t wait until you are all alone. Make sure you join something and belong. No one should die and not have no one notice.

Don’t Preempt Regular TV

A touch of winter finally came to North Carolina after we have had spring for the last eight weeks. The snow paranoids came out if full strength even though the temperature was 39 when the snow started falling at 4:30. The ground was so warm that despite snowing for the last three hours nothing is sticking to the roads. This constitutes a rain event to me.

Yes, the grass is white, but no shoveling is needed since every hard surface is just wet. Given this situation it is fine for everyone to stay home and eat all the bread, eggs and milk they went to the store to buy. They will be fine since they have at least a dozen rolls of toilet paper that they picked up with the bread.

I went out at five to get my nails done. Driving was not an issue going or coming home. While I was out I thought I should pick up some lemons for the soup I made earlier in the day. Thank goodness for the express lanes. There was only one man in front of me because we were the only people not stocking up for the “snow storm” and I use that term loosely. He was buying emergency olives. I guess he already had vodka for martinis. Some people don’t think French toast when the weather man says we are getting snow.

Russ and I met up at home and enjoyed the soup I made for dinner, except for one thing that really makes me crazy here. The local TV station preempted the National News and Jeopardy to run local snow coverage. What the F$&#! It’s not even sticking. Show us what is going on in the real world.

It’s not a weather emergency. No hurricane is coming in. There are no tornadoes. It is at most two inches of snow and that is only on the grass. Please God, shake some sense into the local TV stations.

Just to prove how unimportant this is as a weather issue they just spent two minutes showing people how to make snow cream.

Clarity

Today was a day that I did a lot of number crunching, writing and meeting about financial things for organizations and thus did nothing fun, nor productive for myself or my family. I am not begrudging my work on behalf of others, just feeling guilty for what I consider to be a lack of productivity. It’s that Protestant work ethic thing, which is misnamed because I think most religious communities encourage hard work on behalf of others.

Anyway, by the time I got home around seven from my last meeting I was tired and went up to my bedroom to change into soft clothes. My house was perfectly clean, everything in sight was in its rightful place, I had nothing to feel too guilty about for not doing any house work today.

That fantastical thought was totally dispelled when I opened my closet to hang up my clothes. There strewn across the floor of my little closet were all the shoes I wear regularly in a jumble. I looked up on the wall of the closet and there in perfect order are my perfectly organized never worn shoes.

This is insane I thought. I have racked shoes that I have not even tried on to consider wearing taking up the prime real estate in my high rent area of my closet and the tried and true always go to shoes I wear weekly are thrown in a pile, mixed up together. Tomorrow first thing I am going to make a change.

I am removing all the never worn shoes and am going to do something with them, give them away, sell them, donate them, anything but allow them to live in a beloved state they don’t deserve. Then I am going to take my comfy, go-to pairs and elevate them to a place of honor on the rack.

I think this is a common occurrence for me. I need to consider what I cherish and discard what is realy unimportant. I need to value things for not what they cost, but for the joy they bring. I may not have actually been productive today, but I did achieve clarity and there is something to that.

Recovered for My Friends David and John

There are some days you just have to be well for and today was one of them. Four or five months ago my friend of 35 years, JohnMcLarty called and asked if he and my friend David, friend of just 32 years, could come and visit and go to see an Opera Recital on this day. Of course I said yes. John and David had told us about this tenor Lawrence Brownlee whom they follow all over the world, so we got tickets.

When I got sick in Boston my first thought was of this long planned visit from John and David and would I be well enough for it. Thankfully they were not staying with me since John works for Hilton and they love hotels. The plan was for me to pick them up today at 2 and come back to my house, then to dinner with Russ and the concert in Raliegh.

I was not 100 percent this morning so I laid low, ate a little apple sauce and saw how I was doing. I was beginning to feel better, but did not want to push myself and relapse. I had a little chicken broth and I thought, I’m good.

John and David are like brothers to me. They came and played with Shay and we talked and I knew I was fine, but I still kept my distance from them for their own sake. We had dinner at the irregardless cafe and Russ made it on time to join us. There was a lovely girl singing there tonight and that was a good warm up for us. I ate some real food and all was good.

We went off to the Fletcher to hear Lawrence. It was a heavy show of German in the first half and the English half was called Cycles of my Being, a very atonal and dark group of works. He is a fabulous tenor, but it was not an uplifting performance. Lawrence did two happy encores which lifted the spirits in the audience.

I dropped John and David off at their airport hotel as they have an early flight and all too quickly our little visit was over. With it being such a short one I am so happy that I recovered just in the nick of time for it. Now they just have to come back for a longer visit with some happier music.

Lost Day

It’s been a terrible 30 hours, but thanks to Carter for taking care of me. Yesterday we had a fun morning going to brunch and then the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum. Carter had been skeptical that it was worth our time since the Museum of Fine Arts is right across the way and is a fabulous museum, but we did end up loving the Gardener. It was very crowded, but as we waited in lines to get into different rooms I was able to tell Carter about the big art heist from the museum in 1990.

13 works of art were stollen in the middle of the night by two men posing as police. The value of the works stollen is over $500 million dollars. The museum keeps the empty frames up to show where they will go if they are ever recovered. Mrs. Gardener left the museum in her will with the stipulation that everything in it remains exactly where she left it so I don’t think the museum could put other paintings in the place of the stolen ones anyway.

There were two things I loved about the museum, the court yard with beautiful orchids and the birds, both sculptural and live. Gardener had to be quite a pistol. One quote she is famous for is, “Don’t spoil a good story with the truth.” If your name is Isabella you get in the museum for free.

After our time at the museum we went back to Carter’s and it was then that I started to feel bad. I took a little nap and then sadly told her I couldn’t go to dinner with her best friend Olivia. So Carter went without me. I continued to decline feeling like I could die, but it was not until midnight that I was the most violently ill I have ever been. Not wanting Carter to have to deal with it I cleaned up after myself. Thankfully I was able to go back to sleep.

This morning Russ got me an earlier flight and I somehow made it home. It is all a little fuzzy, as I slept on the plane and came home and went right back to sleep and just now woke up feeling much improved.

It was a terrible way to end my shortened visit to Carter in Boston. She was sweet to take care of me, but next time I guess a I should stay in a hotel just in case.

Sick in Boston

Hi Everyone! This is Carter, Dana’s daughter who she is visiting. Somehow my mom began feeling really ill this afternoon, so I am writing this blog. She missed a lovely seafood dinner with my friends. While we missed her, I really do hope she feels better. I was sick last weekend and it was horrible. Luckily she is not alone.

So if you nice people could send her some notes and thoughts of getting better it would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully she is better by tomorrow as she has to fly back to NC.

I’m sure she will update you all soon, once she is better.

Fun and Cold Boston Day

Carter asked me if we could sleep late this morning and I promised her I wouldn’t wake her up as I usually awake so early and then I slept as long as she did. This is quite a miracle I am sure was caused by the almost nine miles I walked yesterday.

We had a full calendar today, but at ten degrees outside we put off leaving the apartment as long as possible. First stop this morning was the Boston Public Market to buy fruits, veg and seafood. With two pound of asparagus for a dollar And a pint or raspberries for ninety-nine cents I was very jealous of Carter’s shopping opportunities.

We returned home to leave the food and went right back out to the Boston Public Library to go for tea. Tea for lunch is our family favorite and the Library is an extraordinary place to visit.

Our tea was lovely. After a month and a half of not having sugar I skipped eating the desserts, but did love the scones. During lunch Carter described a BBC mini series about life in Victorian England. Her description was so enticing we decided to that we would watch it when we got home.

After the tea we visited the map room exhibit. We could have spent all day in that room, but decided we needed to do a little shopping on our way home. So we stoped at the Pru and made a few purchases and walked home to watch “24 Hours in the past”.

The break was a welcome respite but before long it was time for us to head off to Cambridge to a wonderful restaurant Carter picked called Harvest. It was a very full, cold, fun day. I think I will sleep well again tonight. I can’t wait until tomorrow’s adventures that Carter has planned.

Boston Valentines

Happy Valentines Day. I am having an unconventional valentines as I am in Boston visiting Carter. Russ was here earlier in the week and took Carter out to dinner Wednesday night and now she has me for three nights. Russ is back to Durham so we just passed each other.

When Carter came back in January she invited me to come for President’s Weekend and valentines happens to kick the weekend off. Missing Russ, but so excited to be with Carter.

I flew up in time today to go visit Carter at her office at Bain Capital and have lunch in her fancy dining room. I met two of a Carter’s bosses and I was thrilled with what they had to say about her. Everyone couldn’t have been nicer.

Carter introduced me to Hakim from Algeria who checked us in for lunch. He was so sweet and told Carter to take good care of me because mother’s are important and he wishes he could have his mother come visit him at work.

After we had finished eating a group of other Co-op coworkers came and sat with us to have their lunch. They are Carter’s squad at work and it was interesting to hear about the kind of work they are doing at Bain.

I am proud that Carter has made friends with all kinds of people at work, not just the bosses, but the support people as well.

While Carter stayed and finished her work day I walked to her apartment and ran errands for her. She had four packages, which needed to be returned. Two to the UPS store, one to a store in the Prudential center and one to Fed-ex. Did I say it was twenty degrees here? So I walked 16,600 steps today, all outdoors. I better have burned off a lot of calories doing these errands.

We walked to our favorite HoJoKo for dinner and now I am snuggled into the sofa bed we got for Carter’s apartment in a September and are watching a movie. At last I am getting a chance to enjoy all the furniture I put together. It will be a fun weekend of pampering Carter.

Congratulations to Shelayne

I finally got to celebrate my friend Shelayne’s birthday today with a little lunch. She was in Australia visiting her latest and fourth grandchild over her real birthday. At last she has a granddaughter, but she’s not keeping count. I am certain she will be having more grandchildren before she is done and boys or girls make no difference to her.

I am most happy to say congratulations to her as she was recently elected to the board of the Food Bank. She has been a fabulous supporter and did good work as a volunteer on the development committee. It didn’t take long for the powers that be at the Food Bank to recognize her expert board skills as she has served so many great organizations over the years.

Shelayne never stops giving to the community and I am especially thankful for all she does for educational causes and social services ensuring the next generation is better off than the previous.

So Hooray for Shelayne, a new granddaughter and more good works. You are an inspiration and the best looking grandmother around.

A Good Grandmother Moment

My mother is a very accomplished artist. She has been painting since I was a child and her body of work is extensive. I can imagine she has done well over 20,000 works in her life time. She sells everything she can, but because she paints so much there is always more.

My house is full of her art, most of which I have had to purchase from her, but I am happy to do so since it is her work. So many of my friends have her work and I forget about them until I turn the corner in someone’s house and encounter one of her paintings.

Her style changes often, which is wonderful for her so she doesn’t get bored painting the same way, but it does mean that if there is a painting I love I better buy it fast because you never know how long one style period is going to last.

Carter is all about original art in her apartment. No tapestries, or posters for her. Recently my mother posted an oil painting of “Harrods’ Sale” on her Facebook page. Carter was immediately drawn to it. She commented to my mother that it was her favorite. Carter asked me if I thought her grandmother would give her a discount. I told her the standard family discount, 10%.

Carter was not sure she could afford the painting, but then it became a moot point because someone else bought it. Carter was dismayed, knowing that she missed her chance.

Carter got the best surprise two days ago. The first buyer returned the painting because it did not fit in the room she wanted it for. In a very generous grandmother moment my mother texted Carter and told her that she could buy the painting at a 96% discount. Woo Hoo for Carter.

I texted my mother that she had made Carter so happy. Not mentioning the greatly reduced price. My mother texted back, “I am like Maggie Thatcher in that I think everyone should pay something.”

Next time I want a painting I am going to ask Carter to see if she can buy at the Carter price rather than my price. Oh, it’s nice to be the only grandchild.

Not Much Gardening, But Best Garden Club Program

Today my Garden Club had our monthly meeting. The program was provided by our own club member, Pam Harris. She gave us a fabulous talk about her six year circumnavigation of the globe on a sail boat with just her husband and her cat.

I have known for a long time about Pam and Joe’s six year trip sailing around the world, but I never really thought about what committing to such a trip really meant. Before her talk it seemed like a difficult thing to do, but now, after hearing the details first hand, I know it was an extraordinary effort.

Pam described two storms they sailed through. One where the boat surfed on swells they estimated were at least 30 feet through the night. And by surfing I mean the boat goes up the thirty foot swell and then crashes down the other side. The second storm where their sixty foot boat was struck by lightening during a thousand mile passage between New Zealand and Figi, taking out all their electronics, including the auto pilot, radar, navigation equipment and communications equipment except a ham radio. They had to sail for three days through the squall taking two hour shifts each holding the wheel and keeping the boat on track using just their compass, while the rain pounded on them.

I wanted to cry just listening to it. I could not imagine what that feels like out in the middle of the ocean with no one to help.

Of course Pam shared some of the stories of the interesting people they met when they were on land. She showed us beautiful photos of their smiling faces. We did see some gorgeous island flora and fauna which qualified her talk as a garden club program.

I asked her what she brought with her that she discovered was a waste of space. “Hair spray” was her answer. After listening to the storm sailing stories we got a big laugh out of the thought of hairspray.

I walked away very impressed that she made this trip with just her husband and cat, but I knew that I have no desire to ever do that. I am so glad Russ did not hear her talk because he probably would feel the opposite of me and would want to start sailing now. Thank goodness we can’t afford it.

Dinner with Jeanne

My darling friend Jeanne is in the process of moving back to Durham. This makes me so happy. When she and her husband a David moved to DC a few years ago I was secretly hoping they would hate it and come back.

They didn’t hate it, which is good, but they still didn’t love it as much as Durham. So they bought a place here and are coming back permanently at the beginning of April and I couldn’t be happier.

Since they have already closed on their place here, Jeanne has been back a few times to have work done on it. We usually go out for dinner while she is here, but this week I thought it would be so much nicer to eat dinner at our house. I made lemon chicken, smashed new potatoes and green beans which was the simplest dinner, but much healthier than going out.

Russ took Shay for a walk before Jeanne got here and when Shay came home she ran to the sofa to greet Jeanne with enthusiasm that she hardly ever has for me. I guess Shay is happy Jeanne and David are moving back too.

One of the things she wants to do when she moves back is finally learn to play Mah Jongg so I will be having a beginner class starting in April. Let me know if you want to learn.

The Oscars

Tonight is the super bowl for non sports lovers. You could be an actual movie lover and tonight is your night. You could be a fashion lover and tonight’s your night. You could be a celebrity watcher and tonight’s your night. Or you could be a betting fanatic and tonight’s a big night for you.

I have always loved the Academy Awards since I was a little girl. I have loved movies and movie starts and competition. But I have so many questions about the Academy Awards which I wish they would answer at the show.

First, I know that the “Academy” votes for winners, but who picks the nominees? I think you are in the “Academy” if you won an Oscar, but are you in it if you just got nominated? Are there other people in it? How did they get in? Are you in for life, or is there a time limit?

I would like some input for the order of the awards. They get you right up front by doing something big like supporting actress and actor, but then we have to sit through a lot of insider awards like Make up or cinematography before we learn who the winners are for the categories most of us care about. So many years I have fallen asleep before the best Picture is handed out. Not that it matters by that point.

I think the nominees should have to audition their acceptance speeches and the one with the most entertaining speech can win. That would make the show so much better.

I do enjoy the red carpet, but I am interested in some of the behind the scenes things like, how many handlers does each Star have? How long did they have to wait in the limo line to get to the red carpet? It would be interesting to know how many hairdressers are imported into Hollywood for the academy awards. There should be an awards show for getting the stars ready for the show. Maybe they could do a TV show following all the best actress nominees the weeks before the show and show us what they go through to get ready for tonight.

I know I am not going to learn any of these things tonight. I just hope for some interesting speeches and maybe a surprise or two in the winners.

The Travel App I Wish Existed

Today I have spent almost all day trying to plan a little trip for Russ and myself. Russ has not taken a vacation in so long. He just lets me go on vacation and that has got to stop. Given that he can hardly stop working I am not looking for a long vacation, just four days. When something is that short you want to spend as little time traveling and maximize your time being there.

Since I am flexible I am looking at late spring so I won’t be fighting spring breakers or summer vacationers. So far availability has not been an issue. The worst part of looking is trying to figure out if we can get short flights to a place and not such a long trip from the airport to the property, but not so close that we hear airplanes.

This is a life’s work. Just as soon as I find a cool location, like a jungle resort in Belize, by the time I figure out the transport I have spent 45 minutes researching and then discard it as an option because the travel is too horrible.

The App I would like is to be able to put in my home address and then tell the app, starting from here find me vacations including all the transport. The App could tell me how long the drive is to the airport, the flights, the transport to the property as well as describe the location and Activities and how far they are.

Trip advisor could add this feature. It is possible, but I know it would take a lot of work because it take me so long to do it myself.

My big time traveling sister spent a big part of today sending me suggestions. Seven email with hundreds of links later I still am not sure of where we might go. When the world is your oyster it is hard to narrow things down.

I am open to all suggestions, especially from locals here who might know if the trip part of the suggestion is easy. I guess I should have thought of this project months ago based on how long the planning is going to take me.

Helpless Mother

I don’t know which is worse- being a well mother far away from your sick child, or being a sick child all alone away from your mother. Carter got sick in the middle of her work day. She called me from her office and I told her she needed to go home.

For the rest of the day I have had an hourly call from her and it is killing me as a Mother that I am not there. Not that I can do anything more than I am telling her to do on the phone, but just to be her mommy.

Once when I as in my early twenties and lived alone in DC, I got a stomach virus that was so bad that I was delirious. I went to bed and woke up two days later and had no idea where the time had gone. It was very disconcerting to lose days like that.

Back then we didn’t have cell phones, we didn’t text or even have email. I was too sick to dial a phone and if mine even rang I probably was to sick to hear it.

Carter lives alone, but she did make sure to check with me that I had her best friend’s cell phone in case Carter didn’t respond to my calls. I don’t think she has anything like what I had, probably the stomach bug, but I am still sorry I am not there. Once a mother always a mother.

Two Weeknight Parties in a Row

This can not become a habit, but I had another party tonight. I am too old to go to a party two weeknights in a row. Actually, I didn’t go to a party tonight, I hosted a dinner meeting of a ladies club I’m in for 50 people at my house. I’m not exactly sure if 50 showed up, but that was what I was told to prepare for. Technically I didn’t go to a party but stayed at a party my house, which is five times as hard as going to a party.

My darling friend Stephanie was the outgoing President of this club and asked me long ago we could have the meeting at my house. I would never say no to Stephanie because she has done so many wonderful things for me over the years. Turns out to have been a good day with Russ in Chicago.

I didn’t have to cook as Chef Paris Catered. I just had to heat stuff up and dress salad and set it out. I am thankful for my true reliable friends Sara and Lynn who jumped in to wash dishes. Everything was cleaned up and put away by 9:00 so it was not so hard on me.

Tomorrow night Russ will be home and he probably will not want to go out so I can finally have a regular night. I can’t keep up all this weeknight partying.

Sneaky Mah Jongg Birthday

My beautiful friend Anna is the most gracious hostess of all times. A few days ago she sent an email out inviting a few friends to come play Mah Jongg at her house tonight. “I’m just going to order in some dinner.”

Sounded casual and fun and I don’t need any excuse to play Mah Jongg, even though I also was playing in the morning too. What could be better than a two Mah Jongg day?

A follow up email said, “come at five we will play a little then break for dinner and play some more. If you want wine bring some.”

Sounds like just a game and a little dinner. Well, that is never the way things are with Anna. After we started playing it was revealed that is was our friend Carol’s birthday in two days. I knew this, but did not put together that this Mah Jongg might be a birthday celebration.

Then after some play and Chinese food, (which is of course the only kind of take out you wold eat at Anna’s) she announced we were celebrating Carol’s birthday and she had a beautiful cake from the best bakery, Meil BonBon. I had to pass on the cake, but was told it was divine.

Then in perfect Anna fashion she had party favors for us all of cook books from her friend and fabulous chef, Ann Willan.

It was just like Anna to sneak a birthday party into a Mah Jongg game like it was no big deal and it was the perfect way to celebrate Carol. So happy Birthday Carol. You are eternally young. And thanks to Anna for getting us all together and giving us such a fun night. It didn’t hurt that I had good tiles too.

Please Recycle That

After Carter turned eighteen and before she left for college she got herself a lawyer. No, she wasn’t in any trouble, but we wanted her to get a medical power of attorney and some other important paperwork that adults need. If your child is over eighteen they are legally an adult, and even if they are on your health insurance no doctor can talk to parents about your adult child’s medical situation without the child’s permission.

This is all well and good if the kid has the flu and is conscious so they can give permission, but if they are not, you need this paperwork to get any info about your child’s condition. Oh, HIPPA, the amount of billable hours you have given to lawyers.

So Carter went off to Raleigh and met with her lawyer and got all the grown up things done she needed to do. We paid.

This week a letter came to Carter from her lawyer. Russ sent her a photo of the envelope and asked her what she wanted us to do with it. She said,”open it.” It was a form letter from her lawyer informing Carter of a change in the law concerning retirement plan designations.

One of the things Carter must have done with her lawyer was her will. Just let that settle in for a minute.

Anyway, Carter’s response to the photo of the letter was, “Please recycle it.” Not, “throw it away” or “That is not important to me right now.” No, recycle. I can tell she is an adult now, with a will, because she is concerned about something bigger than her, the planet.

Things I Hate That I Can Control

There is so much in the world that I can’t control, coronavirus, the stock market, all politicians, so I may hate some of those things that is a waste of time. On the other hand there are plenty of things I can control which really aggravate me when they go wrong.

For example I really hate when I hang a freshly laundered wash cloth on the towel rack above the toilet and it falls off into the bowl. Then I doubly hate that I have to reach in and take it out. I hate when the maple syrup falls over in the refrigerator and the sticky liquid seeps into cracks in the fridge.

I hate when Shay comes in from outside and jumps on the clean white quilt on my bed and leaves her signature paw prints all over it. I hate when I go to Costco for my once a month trip and then come home and discover that I am out of tea bags or toilet paper or one of the staples I buy only at a Costco.

I hate when I am in the shower totally drenched and that is when I realize the shampoo bottle is empty. I hate when I forget to smell the milk before I pour it over my cereal and berries and only up after it comes out a little chunky do I realize I just ruined my breakfast.

On the other hand, I am happy to have plumbing and a Washer. At least when the syrup falls over in the fridge it just means that I will get a cleaned out fridge, which it probably needed anyway.

I consider Shay a very important member of the family and I wouldn’t trade her for anything so what’s a few dirty paw prints. I know I am lucky to be able to afford to buy things in bulk because I have enough money to do that.

It’s just not that hard to put a towel on and go get a new shampoo, because I may be out in the shower, but I always have back up. And if I ruin my one bowl of cereal It is never the last thing I have to eat in the house and I consider myself blessed that I don’t have to worry where my next meal is coming from.

Even if I can control things, I need to keep perspective when they go out of control.

It’s Big Eating Day In America

It Super Bowl Sunday. No news reporting here. But in all the hype leading up to the game my favorite stat I heard is that people’s favorite part about the Super bowl is not the game, it’s not the ads, nor the half time show, no, none of those things. American’s favorite thing about this day is the food. This might be what is wrong with America. We use a television show as an excuse to eat stuff we know we should not have.

Perhaps it’s that the game is a month after the January 1 resolutions. Maybe people can no longer live on kale and just want some nachos. Well who doesn’t want nachos.

Here at our house we did not succumb to the desire for wings, pizza, guacamole and chips. No, I did a major fake out on Russ. I served spicy chicken sausages and spicy roast butternut squash. Russ found this hot Korean sauce called gochujang chile paste. It was hot, hot, hot.

We felt like we we having hot wings.

I hope you are enjoying the game, the ads, the half time show and and not acting like the majority of Americans and are not over doing the food. Your resolution is still out there.

The Final Touches

The thing about redoing anything is that once you do one thing you are going to find five more to do around it. You know the saying about pulling that thread. That is what the kitchen redo has been.

It started with the cabinet and drawer handles and pulls. I hated my 1950’s curved handles. I looked for years for ones I liked better that didn’t cost $18 a piece since I needed forty handles and 12 pulls. Finally I found ones at Wayfair of all the places. I think all of them cost only about $150. Cha Ching.

Buying the handles was the start of the painting the cabinets project. Then tiling the back splash. The most recent thing to change is what to put on the round shelves that are under the counter by the stove.

I used to put oils and vinegars there because the shelves are tall and could handle my collection of exotic vinegars in odd shaped bottles. I didn’t like the look of them there, but since I hated my whole kitchen it didn’t much matter. In the reorganization I moved the vinegars and oils to the pantry.

I have been living with nothing on these shelves for eight months and I finally decided to put four matching glass canisters there. I like the cleaner look of having matching glass. I bought two gallon size jars because they fit the space nicely.

It was a no brainer to put flour in one and sugar in another, thus freeing up space in a cabinet where containers of these two items lived. Now the dilemma of what to put in the other two. I could go with powdered sugar, but since I am more or less off sugar right now I am not using much of it. I like the white theme and I could go with rice, since Russ eats so much of it and I usually buy the ten pound bag from Costco. Salt would fit nicely in my white theme, but who in the world needs two gallons of salt. I am really going to have to think about this.

My next issue is trying to find matching scoops to the two blue ones that match the tile. I think I bought those scoops at the Williamsburg pottery outlet in 1985. Why didn’t I buy four?

And the next thread that needs to be dealt with are my kitchen stools. They are green and really need to be painted a different color. Here I go again, another painting project. I better start studying You Tube to find the best advice about what paint won’t chip when we hang our feet on the rungs of the stool. So many threads to pull.

Two Leaders I Disagree With

Today was a big day for two men I have little respect for, Boris Johnson and 45. Brexit took effect and the U.K. left the EU today. I am not sure Johnson and the Brxiteirs really have a handle on how this is going to workout for the U.K. in the end it might end up being the Ununited kingdom as Scotland might finally say we are going to take it anymore to England and Ireland might reunify and do the same to England. That would leave England with little ‘ole Wales and that is just not much of a Kingdom.

Be careful what you wished for Johnson. You might be making yourselves less and less relevant and not have the bargaining power to play with the big boys. It all makes me so sad as I love a lot about the U.K. as I lived and worked there for years, but taking your ball and going home may mean you don’t have anyone to play with.

Then there is the Senate who is not going to do their job and have a real trial and call witnesses. The Senate has laid down for Trump further allowing his out of control power to grow.

He was not going to get removed from office through impeachment because the Republican Senators were too afraid of Trump and his bullying ways, but they should have at least heard Bolton.

Two men I have little respect for have succeeded, but just for today. Things can change.

Shay, The Fellowship Dog

Shay has had a big week at Church. See, Church is her favorite place. If we are at home and I ask her if she wants to go out she usually just looks at me and won’t budge. If I say, “Do you want to go to church?” She runs down stairs to the garage door and keeps jumping until I open the door.

This week Shay has gotten to attend a Fellowship Hall building committee meeting Monday, another meeting with Chris, our pastor and Sharon our business manager yesterday and then today a building meeting with the hardware rep and architects.

Shay’s entrance into the mission center is pure exuberance. She bounds into Sharon’s office and greets her then turns to go back to the front desk to see Barb Schmidt since they are two of her favorites. If there are any church members in the halls she will gladly stop and say hello, never refusing a snuggle or pat on the head.

Today a bible study was going on in the parlor and Shay decided to join them for a while. Saundra Atkins was particularly happy to have her there. Shay roams the main floor of the mission center going from meeting to meeting spreading joy. Thank goodness Westminster is a dog friendly church since Shay is going about without me as I am in a meeting.

She usually comes to me when she has said hello to everyone and jumps in my lap and puts her head on the conference room table. This is her main position in Ways and Means meetings. If only she could go to a church services. I think she would very much like to hear the choir and would gladly go to the front for the children’s message.

For now she is just going to have to remain a committee member and head fellowship dog and greater.

Seven Month Kitchen Re-do Done

A year ago I decided I was going to paint my seventy year old knotty pine cabinets. This under taking was not taken lightly. I thought about it for years. I Love the layout of my kitchen and especially liked my seventy year old stainless steel counters. My appliances are great so I did not want to tear my whole kitchen up.

All this being the case I decided that I was capable of painting my cabinets myself. I waited until the fewest people were going to be home and on July 1, mere moments after putting Carter on a flight to London for her summer study I was dismantling my kitchen. It took me fourteen full days to do the job.

I waited until I had finished painting before I began my search for a new back splash. I needed to see what the white looked like first. So, in the middle of July, I began my search for a new back splash. It took only a few weeks before I found a tile I loved. Hand made in California meant it was going to take a while to get it.

It took over six months. Just before Christmas my wonderful tile guy, Jim Parker called and said it was in, but he couldn’t come until this week. It was worth the wait. Jim, his brother Rudy and other workers descended on my house and today they finally finished grouting and cleaning my new tile. My kitchen is done and I have to say I am thrilled with how it turned out.

Next up the front hallway wall paper. I am going to have to spend some time thinking about this one. Seven months seems about right.

Carter’s Good Deed

It’s a rare January weeknight that Russ and I go out to dinner, but the St. James just reopened after being closed for nine months due to the gas leak explosion and we have missed her. If you are a fan of the St. James it is exactly the same so run on over for dinner.

While Russ and I were seated I got a FaceTime call from Carter so I took it. I know it’s rude to answer your phone in a restaurant, but we were in a very private corner and the noise level was loud enough that no one knew I was on the phone.

This is how the conversation started.

“Nothing is wrong, but I made my first 911 call tonight.”

Thank god I taught her well enough to start with “nothing is wrong” otherwise I would have been a wreck.

Turns out that as Carter was walking home from work she witnessed two young men in a Honda hit a parked car hard enough that it pulled their bumper off. Carter reported that they got out of their car and looked like they we going to leave a note, but decided not to and picked their bumper up and put it in the back seat, sticking out of the open window and drove off. Carter took note of their license number. I asked her if she wrote it down and she said, “I didn’t have to it was 1ABC69.” They were young men after all.

Two other people walking on the street witnessed this and Carter, being a law abiding citizen was outraged for the poor owner of the parked car, whom she does not know. She dialed 311 which is the non-emergency police number and the operator told her that she needed to hang up and call 911 like she won the crime reporting lottery.

Since this happened right in front of her building Carter went into her apartment and called 911 and reported the crime. The dispatcher took the information and told Carter to write a note and tell the owner what she saw and that Carter had reported it and the owner needed to call the police and report the hit and run also.

Carter sent me a photo of the note she left on the car. I am proud of my madam-law-and-order child. It would be easy to just ignore the whole thing as a bystander, and not consider how horrible it is going to be for the car owner when they come out and find their wrecked car.

I hope that Mr. 1ABC69 realizes how having such a stupid vanity plate got him in trouble as well as leaving the scene of an accident.

Never Forget

Today was the day my back splash I have been waiting seven months for was installed. It’s not actually done. It is all up with spacers still between the tiles. The grouting will happen Wednesday and that is when I will actually unveil the whole thing.

I hired a great tile guy who came today with his brother, his cousin and a helper named Jorge. Jorge did all the heavy lifting and toting back and forth to the trucks, mixing the mortar. The four of them worked from 8-3 to get the job done. This is one reason I decided to hire a professional rather than do it myself. After fourteen days of painting I can only imagine how long it would have taken to tile by myself. Plus, I am afraid of the tile saw.

After cleaning my office while they tiled I finally game myself a break and went to work on my giant ass puzzle. I was sitting in our big room listening to the tile guys talk while I searched for the missing piece. Jorge, who is from a Mexico, was talking about going to a soccer match. One of the old white guys asked him if his father was going to go with him. Jorge said, “No, he is too afraid.”

The white guys said, “What, that’s crazy.”

Jorge didn’t say anything else about it that I could hear and they all worked silently for a while.

I got to thinking how terrifying it must be to be in this country as a foreigner right now. Later I was watching the news about this being the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. An old Jewish couple who both survived the camp and later met and married were being interviewed. The woman talked about how they emigrated to America and the feeling they had when they saw the Statue of Liberty. She talked about how this was the greatest county.

I do believe that we have the capacity to be that same country again, but not in the Make America Great Again theme. We are a country of immigrants and we should not forget it. We are stronger when we are diverse. No one should be afraid to go to a soccer match. No one should live in the shadows.

The tile guys needed Jorge. He made their work go easier. They could concentrate on what they did best because Jorge was here.

We can never forget Auschwitz and how a duly elected official was able to wipe out 11 million innocent people while others stood by. It can happen again as long as we allow our government to put children in cages. We can never forget and keep our eyes open now. No one should be invisible.

Surprise Grout Cleaning

I can’t remember exactly when Russ and I redid our master bathroom. For years we suffered with the original 1950’s Grey tile, tub and double sinks. The sinks were big, but had no storage as they were Grey porcelain on silver metal legs. Russ wanted us to do a major bathroom renovation and increase our footprint. I thought there was a more conservative way that did not mean I had to lose my closet.

I went about designing a glass shower with no curtain and getting two smaller square bowl sinks that I put on top of a narrow wood console. The faucet came out of the wall so the sinks could be snug against the wall. These few changes made our tiny master more livable and I have been happy with it for the last fifteen or sixteen years.

In all that time we have had the original grout in the shower. It has held up great, but I am always on the search for the best cleaning product to keep the grout white. The caulking on the edge is my worst nemesis. It has yellowed and I think it is time to pull it out and redo it. My tile man who is coming tomorrow to do the kitchen does not want anything to do with the caulking.

Today in my regular cleaning of the bathroom I tried a new way to clean the caulk, which has yellowed, Oxi -Clean. Yes, the stuff I use in the laundry. I made it into a paste and put it on the caulk on the edges of the shower floor. I was trying to get that caulk a little closer to the white grout color, but that too had yellows, just not as much. After scrubbing the edges with an old tooth brush I rinsed the shower floor. To my surprise the Oxi that had been on the edges flowed over the grout on the floor and whitened the grout without any scrubbing.

I am still going to have to remove the old caulking and re-caulk, but the floor looks brand new. It was just a mistake that I stumbled upon this, but if you want to clean old grout try Oxi-Clean. And no, Oxi-clean isn’t paying me a cent for this, but they really should advertise it.

Happy Birthday Mom!

It’s my Mom’s 82nd birthday. She won’t mind my telling how old she is because she looks damn good for her age, but then again she has always looked good.

Unfortunately she is not feeling well on her big day as she has been sick all week. Please send prayers for a quick recovery. She isn’t good laying low. It means she can not do all the things that keep her the most active person her age. She can’t paint or play bridge or walk the mile long farm road which are things she does everyday if she can. It’s too cold to swim, which she does everyday when it’s warm.

She can read one of the many library books she has sitting by her bed. She can’t stand to ever buy a book when you can get it for free from the library. Since it’s Saturday she can’t watch the stock market and make some trades. But if she feels up to it she can always iron. She has a strong feeling that she was an upstairs maid in a past life for she loves to wash and iron.

I find this hysterical since she ruined a load of my clothes when I was a child and told me, “If you don’t want that to happen again you should wash your own clothes.” I did after that, but she could have just told me it was time for me to do my own laundry. I did not inherit the love of washing and ironing so she may be right about her past life. I must have been the cook in my past life.

Mom, does not like to use punctuation or capitals when emailing or texting. Except for using a comma as an apostrophe, but never as a comma. This is hilarious to me because she is such a grammar freak.

So Happy Birthday to my Mom. I used a lot of capitals there just because she wouldn’t. I also used an apostrophe as an apostrophe, just to remind her that it comes on a standard keyboard. I wish you many more years of painting, bridge, a bull market and all the best books to be in stock at the library.

Celebrity at Bridge

Friday is my normal bridge day three days out of the month. It turns out that today we had a very special guest at the Bridge Academy, the First Lady of North Carolina, Kristin Cooper. She was invited by our bridge unit 191 even though she doesn’t play bridge.

One of the members of our unit, Pearl, is well over 100 and one of the best players around. The First Lady came to meet Pearl. Since we had her as a captive, Henry, the 2018 bridge teacher of the year, gave a five minute lesson on how to play bridge. Then my partner, Deanna, who is President of the unit gave a brief talk about what our unit does and the local members of note, meaning the best players.

After all that, the First Lady said she promised to learn to play bridge. I’m not sure she really knew what she was promising. I have been playing bridge a while and after the First Lady left I played about the worst bridge I have ever played. Sometimes I wonder if I am going to progress. Of course only playing three times a month is not enough. What I really need is a game that starts early in the morning, as I play on the afternoon, which is my worst time of the day. I only hope that if I play as long as Pearl that I get to be half as good as she is.

Waiting Seven Months

Today was supposed to be the day, but it wasn’t. The day my tile guy was to come and install my tile backsplash to finish my kitchen that I started redoing on July 1.

I didn’t pick a tile out until I finished painting my kitchen. When I did, I picked one that was custom made and took 9-12 weeks to get. My tile guy placed the order with the girl who helped me. Fifteen weeks later when the tile guy called the place to ask where the tile was he found out the girl who we placed the order with quit and never put my order in. So another 12 weeks and then it was Christmas.

My tile guy called me three weeks before Christmas and said he would come after the new year. We talked last week and picked today as the day. The day I have been waiting for forever. He told me they would come at 8:00 AM. I woke up at 5:45 so excited this day was finally here.

At 6:30 I got a text that the tile guy’s father was being taken to the ER. Today was not the day. Thankfully I got another text at 1:00 that everything was fine and tomorrow is the day. Not so fast. I am not available tomorrow so Monday is the day. Please lord let it be so. Maybe Monday I will have a back splash to blog about. Today, I have nothing.

Wuhan Where?

If you have watched the news at all in the last few days you most certainly have heard about the corona virus. It’s some kind of deadly virus that experts say originated in Wuhan, China.

Have you never heard of Wuhan until this virus news? What’s the big deal with a virus from a city you have never heard of. Well, Wuhan has a population of 11 million people. To put that in perspective New York City, the largest city in the US, has 8.3 million. That means that Wuhan is a third larger than New York.

Russ spent a lot of time in Wuhan in the early nineties building a factory for a Chinese cosmetic company. Back then it was only nine million people. He used to say Wuhan is the biggest place most people have never heard of.

Today the Chinese authorities announced they are stopping all transportation in and out of Wuhan. They have suspended busses, subways, trains, ferries and planes. These are the ways most people there travel. They are asking people not to travel in or out of Wuhan. They have not stopped private cars, but most people don’t have them.

Imagine if our government tried to stop all travel in or out of New York City? Never could happen. Hopefully the medical people can figure out the source and a treatment for the corona virus. I am thankful they are taking this virus seriously, and feel for the people of Wuhan. I am certain this is not how they wanted to come to the attention of the world.

Breakfast Makeover

For years and years I ate Special K high protein cereal with some kind of fresh berries most weekdays mornings. I liked the original version of it best and was Not thrilled when Kellogg’s changed the formula about five years ago, but I still ate it.

Last year when I tried intermittent fasting I more or less stopped eating cereal since my first meal of the day was after ten in the morning. This year my push is to give up added sugar and artificial sweeteners. I have not had a sweet ‘n low in my tea in 2020 and that has been the hardest part.

In my quest for good health and since I am not ding intermittent fasting, I needed to find a new easy breakfast for mornings I don’t have time to make eggs. Although I never added sugar to my cereal I could taste the sweetness in it, even though it was billed as a healthy cereal.

As a kid I lived on Quaker hot instant apples and cinnamon oatmeal. As the kids in our house always made our own breakfast, this was the easiest hot thing to make when you are eight years old. I knew I couldn’t make that now because I am certain it has as much sugar as Special K. I decided to just have plain oatmeal.

Having seen things on Pintrest for overnight oats, meaning oats that are soaked cold overnight, no cooking needed I decided to try that. I have to say it has become my favorite go to for fast mornings. The only problem is I have to remember to make it the night before, although it is the simplest thing.

I put a half a cup of oats in a glass, add 1 tablespoon of Greek yogurt and 3/4 of a cup of skim milk. I mix it up, cover and refrigerate. In the morning I add a good dose of cinnamon and a handful of fresh berries. It is incredibly filling and I find I am not hungry for lunch until much later in the day and I don’t miss the sugar.

I think I might cook up a few apples and add cinnamon to them and see if I might relive the taste from childhood sans the sugar. Life without sugar has not been that bad.

Day of Service

It’s MLK day. Around here that means it is a day of service. Our church organized a lot of activities with our friends from the Divan center, a Turkish Muslim faith community, where we could could do things for other people. Since Russ’ office was closed (that does not mean he did not work) we volunteered to spend five and a half hours working for the greater good.

Russ and I signed up to be the people who “could be sent on any job.” That meant that we started at church and helped back “Welcome Home” baskets for homeless people that the CASA agency finds permanent homes for. We had laundry baskets and we filled them with things you might need when setting up your first home, like kitchen utensils, and dish towels, cleaning supplies, personal care items and some food. Since we just set Carter up in her apartment in Boston I know that when you have nothing and need everything it is very expensive.

We had a lot of help doing this task. I was making bows to adorn the baskets which held a large trash bag with all the items inside. Nothing like a bow to dress up a trash bag. I had the pleasure of teaching a young woman from the Divan center who is a junior in high school so we talked about her studying for the SAT’s and her interest in going into medicine. Her family had moved to the states five years ago from Turkey and she was a delightful helper and excellent bow maker.

We finished the CASA baskets in record time so Russ and I drove two of our new Turkish friends to Githens middle school where we built new picnic benches while others refurbished old broken down ones.

Russ’ large collection of power saws, cordless drills and ratchet sets came in handy. Our years of watching This Old House and general handy man knowledge was useful. Russ did feel like the loss of wood shop in schools was showing in the young people and needs to be brought back.

The bonus for me is Githens is a huge school so I got all my steps in for the day as I went to photograph other people painting walls in classrooms and fixing picnic tables in other areas.

I am certain the the other groups who went to Reality Ministries and Hope Valley Elementary were equally successful as were the people back at church who were writing letters to cancer patients, prisoners and elected officials.

Over all there were well over a hundred people who came out to work together. I enjoyed meeting our Muslim neighbors as well as our own church members. Thanks to Amy Hill and the Deacons for organizing the whole day. It felt like the best thing to do to honor Dr. King’s legacy.

Dog Body Language

Shay is a very quiet dog. She rarely barks or growls. Once in a while she will make a little purring sound to say, “I am pleased with you.” For the most part she has developed a few poses which tell us everything she wants us to know.

Her favorite pose is one where she stands on her green bed with very good posture with one foot in front of the other. Paris models could learn a thing or two from her stance. This position is almost always made after she has finished eating the chicken in her dinner bowl, but not the kibble. She stands there to say, “I would like more people chicken or cheese before I can continue to eat that god awful kibble.”

You can ask her if she wants to go out, but the answer is always the same- she stands her ground, not changing position.

Once you have adding just a little cheese and she has eaten to her satisfaction she will lie on her bed with her head on her toy snake, which is alway on her bed. Other toys travel throughout the house, but not the snake. It belongs on her green bed.

Shays other well rehearsed position is standing on the bath rug in our master bath looking out the door towards our bed. This means, “I want you to pick me up and put me on the bed because for some reason I am too tired to jump up there.” Now she jumps up on the bed all the time, but maybe after her dinner she might be feeling a little to heavy and doesn’t want to attempt to jump and fail.

She has us so well trained that when she is in these positions in the exact spot we know what she wants and give it to her. I would like to train my people as well.

I Blame Russ

I wish that I could say I was more productive today, but I fell under the spell of the new 2,000 piece puzzle Russ gave me for Christmas. He didn’t exactly give me this one puzzle, but a puzzle of the month club. I had the choice which subscription to choose from and I picked the 2,000 piece.

Two grand is really a lot of pieces. My friend Mary Lloyd showed me her family puzzle set up over Christmas where they use two tables, one for sorting pieces and the second to assemble. So I set up a similar set up today to start the sorting.

Just touching 2,000 pieces takes a long time. I didn’t do a total sort, just looking for the edge pieces, the sky, the green roof and any piece with words. I didn’t do such a great job. As I was putting the edges together I realized I must be missing at least ten to twelve edge pieces. I am not going to go on a search just for those, but I did go on to work on the sky.

I took many breaks to try and do something more productive, like walk, laundry or cook dinner, but I have to say it was mostly a puzzle day. I blame Russ since he was working all day and Shay was keeping him company. If on,y he had wanted to clean out the garbage than I might have not been so bad.

I did make a red lentil yellow curry for dinner that was very delicious. The photo is proof that I was not completely childlike today.

Butternut Squash and a Fennel Roast or Soup

One of the best things you can do with the internet is find unusual recipes. Yesterday I looked in the kitchen and noticed that I had a butternut squash and two fennel bulbs I needed to use up. I knew I could make them into soup, but I really wanted something more solid than that. I just input butternut squash and fennel in my google search and came up with a gaggle of ideas. After reading a number of them I settled on a simple one pan way to roast them together with an onion with a bunch of spices. I loved the outcome.

I forgot to take a photo so I borrowed a portion of this photo from a different recipe. Mine does not use dill weeds, but otherwise this is what it looked like.

1 butternut squash- peeled, seeded and cut i to chunks about 3/4 of an inch wide

2 fennel bulbs, – cored and cut into wedges about an inch wide on the outside

1 large sweet onion – peeled and cut into wedges like the fennel

2 T. Olive oil

1 T.Cinnamon

1 1/2 T chili powder

1 1/2 T. Cumin

1 T. Turmeric

1. T. Kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 450°

Cover a half sheet pan (That’s a big cookie sheet with short sides) with foil.

Place the vegetables on it and sprinkle the oil all over it.

Mix the spices together in a small bowl and evenly distribute on the vegetables and stir it all over coating everything as evenly as you can.

Roast in oven for about 45 minutes. The vegetables should start to brown.

These can be eaten just like this and if you have leftovers you can make a yummy soup out of them by placing them in a pot with some chicken or vegetable stock. Heat and then purée with a stick blender.

Two dishes in one.

My Impeachment Watching Puzzles

I was working on my puzzle today when the Senate’s swearing in for the DJT impeachment came on the TV. I find it incredibly sad that in my adult life I will witness two impeachment trials. It shouldn’t quite be called a trial until we know if there is actually going to be evidence and witnesses.

In the Clinton impeachment the facts where not really in dispute. Clinton lied in relation to the Paula Jones sexual harassment case and then was also tried for obstruction of justice. The impeachment was to decide if that lie warranted being removed from office. One difference in Clinton’s impeachment case is his lie was about something personal and not something that affected the whole country. Yes, lying is wrong, but a majority of the Senators did not feel it warranted being removed from office after hearing a trial.

This impeachment is different because the facts of the case are not agreed upon. So it seems like the Senate “trial” is the perfect place to actually seek out the truth with evidence and witnesses, especially since the charges actually do affect the nation.

It will be interesting to see how many Senators who swore an oath today actually want to find out the truth. Because John Roberts is the judge and he is busy hearing cases at the Supreme Court in the morning the Impeachment hearing will be held in the afternoons. Senators are not allowed to have their phones or any electronic devices during the hearings and are supposed to sit quietly and listen, just like regular jurors.

I have just received my new 2000 piece puzzle Russ gave me for Christmas. I am planning on watching the hearings as much as I can while doing the puzzle during the boring parts. I am most interested in seeing which of the very old Senators fall asleep.

I don’t think for a minute 45 is going to be removed from office, even with overwhelming evidence, but I do hope the Senate actually hears the case and allows evidence. It is the way the founding fathers set up the system. Congress has already abdicated so much of its authority over to this President and that is the real crime. I hope a few of them have a spine and stand up for the constitution for which they took an oath to uphold.

My Search For a New Drink

Since I’ve given up sweeteners, both artificial and processed sugars, I have been on the hunt for a new drink, or really drinks, to replace my iced tea obsession. I got lots of suggestions from my friends. So I went out and gathered samples to try.

While I was at fresh market buying the teas I was told were good without additional sweet I walked by the cold drinks Refrigerator. Since I was thirsty at that moment I opted to buy two different flavored waters. I usually hate paying for water other than what I pay right out of the tap. I dislike the waste both on money and in packaging.

I got a cherry flavored Hint water which I drank right away. It was good. 0 calories. A little sweet and the cherry was not artificial tasting. I wasn’t bowled over. I also bought something called Shine water I brought that one home.

I made hibiscus blueberry tea from the Republic of tea. Expensive compared to my Costco size of Lipton – .33¢ a tea bag compared to .003¢ a tea bag. I liked the hibiscus, but didn’t love it. I also got some uber expensive Kushiro tea. Don’t even get me started about that one. It should come with a masseuse since it is Spa worthy. Yummy, but not sweet tooth satisfying.

I went way down market and got two flavored seltzer’s at Trader Joe’s. Good for just hydration, but still do not beat my old way of drinking iced tea.

Today I had Mah Jongg and I drank my Lipton with lime, no sweet. It’s fine, just barley fine. After a construction meeting at church I really needed a new drink I remembered the Shine water in my fridge I had bought at the Fresh Market. It was strawberry lemon flavored and had 20 calories. I could live with that.

I filled a glass with crushed ice and tried to open the bottle. Usually I am able to open any bottle, but not this one. I got out my grandmothers jar opening tool. It took a minute, I actually considered going back to the store to have them open it, and then the cap budged and gave way.

The water was a beautiful pink color so it actually looked like a cocktail. I took a sip and … TAA DAA it was nirvana. I loved it. It was just sweet enough to feel like a treat, but not like I was cheating on my husband.

Now I am going to have to try the other flavors. It is too expensive to make up the 80 Oz of liquid I drink a day, but one every other day seems like it could satisfy me when I am pining for a sweet ‘n low laced iced tea.

Remembering an Old Friend

After Christmas, in that time when the decorations were all boxed up and ready to go the attic, Russ decided that he wanted to shift around some of the not so important items that have been up there for 25 years. His bright reasoning is that boxes of thirty five year old gourmet magazines and dark room equipment that has net been used in two life times don’t need to be in prime storage space. The Christmas decorations that come down from the attic every year should take that high rent real estate.

Russ enlisted Carter to do some of the moving things around work and once she got involved she became interested in what all this stuff was. She descended from the attic with three 8×10 black and white photos of a man she did not know. “Who is this guy?” She asked as she held out photos I had taken in college.

They were pictures of my friend Herb. I explained to her that he was one of my all time favorite people. We had gone to school in France together and he was at Dickinson Law school when I was an undergraduate. She asked me why she didn’t know him if he was such a good friend of mine. I explained that he passed away when she was not quite one from a brain tumor.

Holding these photos in my hand I realized that I should share them with Herb’s family. Herb was one of five boys and I had met his younger brother David when he came to visit Dickinson, eventually transferring there after I graduated.

I contacted David through email and I sent him copies of the photos so he could share them with his family. David told me that over the years old friends of Herb’s would sometimes call him just to talk since they missed Herb. David asked me if I would like to do that too. Of course I did. So tonight he called me.

We talked for and hour and a half about all the memories I had of Herb. He was the funniest, kindest most loyal friend and David reiterated all those things back to me. I think I am still in denial that he is gone a day let alone twenty years.

I am thankful that Carter unearthed these photos so a I could reconnect with Herb’s family and remember my great friend.

Energy Guilt Trip

I hate my “Home Energy Report.” I don’t know if you get one of these things, but I get one in the mail every month. I don’t ask for it, yet it comes, printed on paper, stamped and brought by the mail man. I don’t get a paper bill from the power company, just this.

It’s not the mailing and printing that I object too, although it is a huge waste. It is the report that my house is always Not an efficient home. Then there is this little graph with a big yellow house representing my house, the bad, big energy sucking house and next to it is a little green house, half the size as the yellow one, the good, energy efficient house. From the pictures it looks like my house uses double the power. In actuality my house use 968 kWh and the good house used 897 kWh. The real difference is only 7.6%. Not the fifty percent that the info graphic makes it look like.

Then there are the forecasted energy use areas for January. They think that 18% of my energy comes from lighting. How the hell do they know. There is not an incandescent bulb in my house. No room is lit if I am not in it. Then there is the laundry percent, coming in at a whopping 9%. I may do two loads a week. Most of Russ’s clothes go to the cleaners and I have the biggest machine ever. I can wash four beds worth of sheets at a time. There are no savings there in January since I can’t hang clothes outside.

So my favorite stupid suggestions are the “How can I save more.” The one about unplugging entertainment devices not in use” is the biggest pain in the butt I have ever heard of. Do you know how hard it is to get to the cord? On top of that a cable box has to reboot every time it plugged in. That alone takes ten minutes. I would never get to watch the beginning of a show again. The solution is to get the manufacturers to make more efficient units.

Then the idea that we use our oven less by cooking things together at the same temperature is fine for Thanksgiving, but really I don’t want to cook four days worth of food all at once. Get real.

Reducing energy consumption is the right thing to do. It is better for the planet and keeps costs down so the power company does not have to build additional power plants that emit green house gasses, but sending me this report making me feel bad is not the way.

I get no credit for having a group of friends at my house every week for a few hours playing Mah Jongg. While they are at my house, they are not at theirs using energy. I also cook food for large numbers of people which means that all those people are not cooking. It is more efficient to make a lot in one place and not a little in many places. None of those things go into my account about how efficient I am.

My house may not be that efficient due to its age and my original windows. But I am not adding to the landfill by replacing them. They all work perfectly well and as long as I am only 7 % less efficient I am not worried about it.

So listen Duke Energy, you don’t know shit about how efficient I am. Stop mailing me paper, which is very inefficient and email me your lame suggestions and out of scale infographics. I know you think you are helping, but you aren’t! I don’t need your energy guilt trip.

Double Church

There are very few Sundays when a Russ and I go to two church services on the same day. Today was one of those rare days. Since I was the lector at the 11:00 AM service we kind of had to go to that one. It was a good service, regular Westminster Sunday, but this afternoon we went back to church for a very special service, the ordination of our new youth pastor, Alex.

Alex Strayer-Brewington came to our church almost two years ago as the interim youth pastor after our beloved Taylor got called up to be a head pastor in Georgia. Taylor was big shoes to fill. Alex was just out of Duke divinity and this was a good gig to get. Alex is a Lumbee Indian, not your normal Scottish Presbyterian. He is calm, except when playing his banjo.

Alex captivated the kids and a year after he started as interim our search committee started looking for the right person for a full time youth pastor. Alex applied along with many other pastors who knew that Westminster is a great place to work. We value youth and that is why we call an ordained pastor just for them.

The search committee did its due diligence, as all good Presbyterian committees do. They investigated many candidates and after much work by many people discerned that the best person was the one already in the youth suite on Sunday nights, Alex.

The congregation was thrilled that was the conclusion. So we had the pleasure this afternoon of ordaining Alex in our own church. I am certain he is going to continue to be a kind and thoughtful minister who will inspire youth to do good in the world. Westminster is one lucky place.

New Years Resolution Mushrooms

If you made a resolution there is a fifty-fifty chance it involved eating healthier/cleaner/losing weight. It’s day 11 of the new year (which happens to be my boarding school roommate Nancy’s birthday) so chances are you have already broken your resolution. It is after all a good day to eat cake.

Since I am not with Nancy today and have no cake around I can stick to my resolution. I made these mushrooms, which even my non-resolution needing husband liked. They are very satisfying and just not that bad for you.

4 Portobello Mushroom caps

4 big handfuls of baby spinach

Pinch of nutmeg

1/2 t. Garlic powder

1/2 cup or caramelized onions

1 cup of part skim ricotta

4 T. Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper

Preheat your oven to 450°.

Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Place mushroom caps on the foil, gill side up and roast in the oven for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile put a tablespoon of water in a non-stick fry pan and place on medium heat on stove. Add the spinach and cover. The spinach should wilt in about a minute. You may need to turn it over with tongs once. Once the spinach is cooked remove it from the pan and place on a chopping board. Put two or three paper towels on top of it and squeeze out the water, then chop the spinach.

Place spinach in a bowl and add nutmeg, garlic, onions, salt and pepper and stir well. Add the ricotta and stir again.

When mushroom caps are done drain any liquid out of them and then place back on cookie sheet gill side up again. Scoop one quarter of the spinach ricotta mixture onto the mushrooms and spread it out evenly. Repeat with other mushrooms. Sprinkle the Parmesan on top of the ricotta and spinach.

Put the mushrooms back in the oven and continue cooking them for about 15 minutes until the parm starts to brown.

Happy Birthday Nancy Mack Von Euler. Sorry this isn’t a cake for you.

Sad Dog

Tomorrow Carter will have been back in Boston a week. She was ready to go, but Shay was not ready to let her leave. So all week Shay has been moping about looking for Carter.

Thankfully Carter has not had as much time to miss Shay as she started her CO-OP job which she reports loving. For reasons of confidentiality I don’t want to say where she is working, but it is a big time place that I never would have been able to get a job at. Having this opportunity to work at a real job for six months in the middle of her college experience is the best way to go to college. I am so happy things have worked out this way for her.

In the mean time, Shay is home with me where not much is happening, especially when I leave her so I can meet my Food Bank Board friend Felicia for lunch. Catching up with a good friend is wonderful, I just wish Shay could join me.

She sits at home lonely, waiting for Russ to come home from Chicago. At least she will have her number one person for the weekend. I used to think Shay was the luckiest dog, but her despondency without all her people makes me sad for her.

Resolution

Today I saw my friend Nancy for the first time in the new year. She asked me what my big thing for the year was. She is used to reading in my blog around the first of year some declaration of something I am trying to do that year. Last year I chose not to buy anything new that was not a consumable or a gift. I did fairly well at that resolution. I told Nancy something I was doing, but forgot the biggest thing. In an effort to try and eat cleaner and cut sugar out of my life I have given up artificial sweeteners.

For anyone really close to me you might know that I love iced tea with lots of lemon or lime and a sweet ‘n low. This is my go to drink. I adore it. I hate sweet tea and other sweeteners don’t do it for me in tea. So the giving up of sweet ‘n low has been a huge trial.

I also am trying to stay away from sugar in general. So far this calendar year I have only had a tiny bit of honey twice in a salad dressing I made. It probably was so tiny I could have left it out.

After great study about the brain’s connection that anything sweet, full calorie or zero calorie still reads as fattening has prompted me to try and break my addiction to sweet ‘n low. Friends have tried to persuade me to give it up based on the death of some lab rats, but given my dislike of rats that had no affect on me.

I have stuck to my resolution, but boy do I miss the taste of my beloved tea. The good news is I have not had any cravings for sweets and have probably cleaned out my system from the Christmas sugar overload. Now I am looking for some drink that I love as much as I used to love iced tea.

I have been drinking tea with just lime and it just makes me miss the old way. I have cucumber and ginger water for afternoons when I don’t want caffeine. It is good, but not my tea good. So I am open to suggestions for no sugar, low or no calorie drinks.

I don’t want to add a natural sugar like agave or stevia because I think it has the same brain-sugar connection. I don’t know if I ever will get over the loss of sweet ‘n low, but I am going to try. For now I still have it for guests so don’t worry if you come over for tea. Giving up buying anything new was so much easier.

Meghan and Harry Want to Move to Canada

Today, in what was apparently a surprise to the Queen, Harry and Meghan said they wanted to step back from their official duties and move, at least part time to Canada. They were giving up being supported with the royal stipend and planning on supporting themselves. Sounds like exactly what the British people want, not to pay for the royals, who do so much good for their country in nonprofit patronage and tourism. But you can’t just surprise the Queen and the Royal household shot back saying not so fast.

Harry and Meghan should be free to do as they please as long as they are not taking any money. Of course they would rather live in Canada. Most of us would rather live there too. Kind friendly people, not a huge paparazzi, no Boris Johnson. They might have considered America, but we have DJT and why would anyone chose to subject themselves to that right now.

Harry is sixth in line to the throne. Chances are next to nil that he will get called up to the majors. The Queen should actually consider Canada, part of the commonwealth, as the perfect place to keep Harry as a designated survivor. Just consider what might happen if that like church at Balmoral collapsed one Christmas Day while all the royals were there. Heaven forbid the job at monarch be picked up by Prince Andrew who is the next one in line after Harry and Archie, because he was banned from the family celebration.

The Queen is looking at this announcement all wrong. Harry might have forced her hand, by announcing the move without her permission, but she can spin this as a good thing. No one is going to stand with her if she tries to stand in their way to live a life they want.

Meghan and Harry can certainly make their own living. This isn’t like his great, great uncle David abdicating for the woman he loved and then still living off the royal payoff. Let Harry and Meghan be happy, even while the rest of Britain is miserable because they have Brexit and probably can’t move to Canada.

Back at DA Basketball

After a few years away from Kirby gym I’m back tonight for the four game play against North Raleigh Christian. Not that I am sitting in the bleachers. No, I’m running the concession stand.

Things are really different from when Carter went to school here. The concession stand is a money making operation. Students can charge things like soft pretzels and drinks on their student accounts. And the line up of offerings is extensive.

I don’t think in four years in the bleachers I ever got one thing at the concession stand. First it was never open during JV games and second it was rarely open during girls games. So as my volunteer time I made it a point to come and open for all the games, not just the boys varsity game.

Since it will be a five hour unpaid shift surrounded by sugar and salt I brought my own salad to eat for dinner if I can find a time to do it. I probably could have sold some salads if I had made them.

So come on out to DA Basketball today and buy some M&M’s. I also can microwave up a mean popcorn.