DEER

 

The deer are hungry if they're resorting to eating red berries off the tree on the west side of Venny.  We enjoy the deer that live close by and share the grounds with us.  One evening last week a deer was camped out for the night beneath our window.  Wouldn't it be interesting to know what the animals around us do during the night when we're all asleep?  

RESILIENCE

Our morning started with the usual Cuddy business, first cuppa, checking for breaking news, and then it's outta the gate.  

Clicked on eBay and searched the book section for bargains on Life itself.  First thing to pop up was one written by a Navy Seal entitled Resilience.  With two minutes left to bid, I tossed in a $2 bid ($4 shipping) and won!  

Resilience is a power-house word.  It's the ability to bounce back, to adapt to a situation or hard challenge.  Acquired wisdom helps us manage our way through those irritating prickly thickets of life.

Have another book on order, 365 Days of Tao inspirational readings.  Taoism (dau-izm) is a system of belief, attitudes and practices set toward the service and living to a person's nature.  The path of understanding Taoism is simply accepting oneself.  This leads to inner peace. 

Waiting for books to arrive in the mail adds anticipation to my days.  I'm learning that the last inches of life's ruler require the most from us.  It's kinda like going on a trip and having a suitcase packed with necessities along the way.  If we don't prepare, the path will be more difficult to follow.  Free-thinkers, like myself, have to be engulfed in heavy thought, always trying to figure out the absolute impossible.  Oh, I know it's like banging one's head against a blackboard thinking that'll teach the time-tables, but it's a hunger that lives within me, and I've gotta feed it with as much wisdom as I can lay my hands on.  

The prisms in the windows have rainbows and polka dots dancing on our walls.  One thing that is always within our reach is making the most of the simple things in life.  Using Hemmingway's words, life is a movable feast!

IMAGINE

Yesterday was snowy-blowy, today is calmy-coldy.  The boyfriend awaits football games later today, while I'm thinking maybe I should stop procrastinating and get my crochet hooks out.  Those comfort crosses are not going to make themselves, and so far as I can tell, Santa's elves are not here to crochet them for me.  It's this business of late-life laziness, over-enjoying my seat in the audience!

Had one of my nighttime epiphanies, as I call 'em.  The words to John Lennon's song, Imagine, are floating through my brain like wisps of dandelions on a windy day.  What on earth would bring those lyrics to my mind during the middle of the night.  Must be a reason.

If I take the song and break it into segments, the messages are beyond powerful, filled with intense meaning for all of us...........

Song:  Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try.  No hell below us, Above us only sky.  Imagine all the people living for today.

My Thoughts:  The older I get, the more I ponder this business of heaven and hell.  Cannot help wondering if man himself created them as a way to make human beings behave themselves.  As a little girl, the nuns and priests told us we would burn in hell if we died with a mortal sin on our souls.  If we died with venial sins, we'd have to lay-over in Purgatory till they were purged.  That was some pretty heavy stuff to be teaching us starting at the age of 5.  Now, when I'm old as dirt, and understand what scientists have learned about the Universe, and Earth's insignificance within it, heaven and hell are definitely questionable.  I could never figure out why a priest would pray over a dead person, "May he/she rest in peace."  If we go to heaven or hell, how does one rest in peace?

Song:  Imagine there's no countries, It isn't hard to do.  Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion, too.  Imagine all the people, Living life in peace.

My Thoughts:  The countries of the world have been fighting over religion since religion began.  What if we were all one global family?  It's a wonderful thought.  What if the United States was one?  One well-enforced law for the land.  It's difficult to wrap one's mind around the present world ever living in harmony.  Maybe the powers that be, those who quietly and invisibly control this world, want the discord among us and design ways to perpetuate the evil among us.  

Song:  You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.  I hope someday you'll join us, And the world will be as one.

My Thoughts:  Guess I'm a dreamer.   Our world is now frighteningly divided, to the point where ordinary people find the need to pack a gun.  This business of mass shootings on the news every day is getting worse.  Fighting and arguing and de-friending and all unimaginable nastiness is gaining momentum, according to my perspective.  Such a beautiful world inhabited by utter ugliness.  

Song:  Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can.  No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man.  Imagine all the people, Sharing all the world.

My thoughts:  Guess I can be among the dreamers, as John Lennon sang.  I hope someday all the world will live as one.  

John Lennon Memorial
(Central Park, NYC)

AD-SPAM FREEZES LAPTOP

Windy and sunny day.  Snow keeps whipping around the deck like mini tornadoes.  Absolutely perfect day to be snuggled inside, warm and cozy.

We're both signed into our laptops.  The boyfriend is watching wood-carving videos, and I worked my three daily word games:  wordle, spelling bee and letter boxed.  The NYT website allows one free game of each on their website.  Cuddy and I slept until about 11 o'clock this morning when my phone rang.  Yesterday my Chromebook somehow had a spam ad pop-up that wouldn't go away.  Thank goodness I know a computer guru who fixed it by pressing Shift-Escape, opened a new browser tab, closed the old tab, and the spam ad went away. This morning he called to tell me how he eliminated the problem, should it happen again.  This is the first time ever that something like that happened on my Chromebook.  He said there were several instances of the same thing happening to others yesterday.  The world wide web is wonderful, yet a dangerous arena.

NEW WORDS

A few inches of snow fell overnight.  Woke up this morning to the sound of vehicles removing snow from the parking lots and sidewalks.  Sun's shining now.

Venny friends dropped off homemade dressing (stuffing), knowing that I simply adore dressing and could eat it every meal.  Can't wait for supper now.

Not a whole lot going on.  Have been online floating from research, to videos, to movies, to news briefings of latest shootings, to playing online games, to working word puzzles, and along the way visiting live streams from Nepal, Japan and South Korea.  Who else besides me has gotten caught up in watching mukbang videos?  That's a topic for another day.

Learned a new word.  The English language is growing, with new terms describing this time in history.  "Swatting is a criminal harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service (via such means as hoaxing an emergency services dispatcher) into sending a police or emergency service response team to another person's address.  This is triggered by false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency, such as a bomb threat, murder, hostage situation, or a false report of a mental health emergency. such as reporting that a person is allegedly suicidal or homicidal and may or may not be armed, among other things."   The term is derived from the law enforcement unit SWAT (special weapons and tactics), a specialized type of police unit in the United States.

This brings to mind the "old-fashioned" paper dictionary, which at one time was like a bible for the uncountable times I needed to look up the meaning of a word, or a legal term.  To this day, a Black's Law Dictionary stands beside the American Heritage Dictionary that a criminal trial lawyer gave to me.  Throughout my life, words have intrigued me more than anything else I can think of.  What's way cool now is having the web on my iPhone, so I can look up anything anywhere there is wi-fi service.  Fifty years ago I would've thought that would be comparable to heaven.  Sometimes we have to pause and take a good appraisal of our blessings...the perks that quietly come to us along the way.

INDIAN FRY BREAD

Cuddy Snoozing

Stayed up until 1:30 this morning watching our individual interests on the laptops.  The little man in the house let us sleep until almost 8 this morning.  Now he's fast asleep on his corner of the couch covered up with his real daddy's t-shirt.  It's another glorious morning decorated with hoarfrost and a fog that makes the air look white. 

The boyfriend is watching the closing arguments in a murder trial that took three lives.  I've been flitting around the web in search of February newsletter topics.  My mind is in the refrigerator.  By that I mean that I'm thinking of the salad ingredients that patiently wait to be tossed together, with my favorite Ken's Lite Vidalia Onion Dressing.  

Outside our Venny unit, they're installing new carpeting in the hallway.  This is the year of new painting and new carpeting.  The complex is twenty years old, and fashion color trends change along with everything else in life.  We have to stay inside our unit while they're outside the door putting down glue and whatever else they do.  Neither of us has anywhere to go, so we're content to wait till the carpet is laid in our part of the 50-unit complex.  This year our unit had a new furnace installed and new sliding patio doors with built-in blinds.  

As I look out the window at the Adirondack chair that's my summer perch, it makes me realize the seasonal differences.  Some days mid-summer the sun is so hot, one can't sit out on the deck.  Now in January, one can't sit out on the deck because it's so cold.  Same chair, different elements.  

Ran across a recipe for Indian Fry Bread for Indian Tacos.  The recipe is so simple compared to some that require the use of yeast, letting the dough raise, and what all.  I'll share the recipe if anyone else cares to try it.  The best Indian Tacos are served in the Badlands of South Dakota.  Think we'd make a trip out there just to sit down and stuff ourselves silly.  It's fair to say that my palate is sated by hot-spicy Mexican cuisine more than the boyfriend's, but I do see him using the hot pepper flakes shaker more frequently.  One of the things I miss most about summer is ordering a walking taco at a small ice cream stand.  Here's the recipe.....

If someone would ask me what my favorite ethnic foods are, I'd have to say Chinese and Mexican.  We make good use of our electric wok for the Chinese stir fry recipes, and I'd be ecstatic if I could make fried bread like that in SD.  Am quite proficient in using chopsticks now.  Using them is just something I'd always wanted to learn.  

Ta-ta. 

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS DATE

Sun is shining, 12 degrees above, and a layer of feathery hoar frost has the trees glittering.  Perfect example of our world being a movable art gallery.

Our weekend was calm and quiet.  The book I've been talking about was highly disappointing.  Books are sacred to me, but this one is going to the book crematorium.  

Venny's wi-fi network is being upgraded, so we were without internet from Friday night at 9 until yesterday about 6 o'clock in the evening.  We were like two lost puppies without the internet, and were thinking we might need counseling to cope.  Every day I play certain word games, write my blog, and am subscribed to and follow YT live streams from Korea, Japan and Nepal.  After watching them for awhile, total strangers take on the feel of far-away friends.  It's a pleasure to write comments and wait for their response.  

Two of my Venny friends left a surprise by our door on Saturday.  They had been to a thrift store and bought me a plastic bag filled with beads.  Today I'll wash and rinse them in Dawn dish soap and then let them soak in soapy water overnight.  All my creative endeavors are made out of used materials, but everything is sanitized and cleaned.  That's a must in my rule book.

In the event my cousin in California is reading this for the first time, welcome aboard.  I'd be very happy to have you among my faithful readers.

A bit of trivia for us baby boomers:  Fifty years ago this date, in the year 1973, US President Richard Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War. 

CRITICAL IDENTITY THEFT SAFEGUARDS

The editor of our in-house newsletter posted the following Identity Theft Safeguards, and I feel they warrant passing on to my faithful readers.  A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company:

1.  The next time you order checks, have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them.  If someone takes your checkbook, they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your checks.

2.  Do not sign the back of your credit cards.  Instead, put "PHOTO ID REQUIRED."

3.  When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For" line.  Instead, just put the last four numbers.  The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check-processing channels will not have access to it.

4.  Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home number.  If you have a PO Box, use that instead of your home address.  If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address.  Never have your SS# printed on your checks.  You can add it if it is necessary.  However, if you have it printed, anyone can get it.

5.  Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine.  Do both sides of each license, credt card, etc.  You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel.  Keep the photocopy in a safe place.  Also carry a photocopy of your passport when traveling either here or abroad.  We have all heard horror stories about fraud that is comitted on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.

6.  When you check out of a hotel that uses cards for keys (and they all seem to do that now), do not turn the "keys" in.  Take them with you and destroy them.  Those little cards have on them all of the information you gave the hotel including address and credit card numbers and expiration dates.  Someone with a card reader, or employee of the hotel, can access all that information with no problem whatsoever.  Unfortunately, as an attorney, I have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month.  Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer and received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online.

Here is some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know: 

1.  We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately.  The key is having the toll-free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call.  Keep those where you can find them.

2.  File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen.  This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).  However, here is what is perhamps most important of all (I never even thought to do this).

3.  Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number.  I had never heard of doing that until I was advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name.  The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.  By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done.  There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thief's purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert.  Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thief threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in).  It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.

Now, here are numbers you always need to contact about your wallet and contents being stolen:

1.  Equifax:  1-800-525-6285.

2.  Experian (formerly TRW):  1-888-397-3742

3.  TransUnion:   1-800-680-7289

4.  Social Security Administration (fraud line):  1-800-269-0271.

+++++++++++

If this info helps one person, then that makes this post worthwhile.  I myself was not aware of some of this and will now make sure to take precautionary steps to safeguard our personal identity data.

CHALLENGING STAGE OF LIFE

Am looking out at a wonderful world of white, and that's a fantabulous start to a new day.  Don't think we got as much as predicted.  The little girl in me can't help but giggle when I think how fragile our society has become in one lifespan.  Schools close nowadays if there's an inch of snow on the ground.  Oh, well, it's unfair to compare the past to the present.  So many variables concerned.

Maybe that's my biggest problem.  I'm inclined to cling to how things used to be and fret about the way things are now.  I'm certainly smart enough to realize that life is a flowing river.  Today flows away and a new today takes its place.  Imagine when a person hangs on to a today that existed over fifty years ago.  That's nuts.  

As my readers can tell, my mind is working through a thicket of tangled branches.  It's sort of like the crescendo in music...the gradual building of intensity and sound.  What it all boils down to is very deep and personal.  We can't be expected to understand why others do the things they do.  It's that business of so many variables.  The most difficult part of aging, for me, is how I've been tossed to the side of the road like I never mattered.  Maybe that's part of the Divine Plan.  If we no longer matter to anyone (other than our spouses), then when it comes time to leave this world, it's easier for us.  This is pretty deep, and it's exposing an open wound for all the world to see.  

Sometimes my posts tend to get fairly deep and heavy.  When they do, I notice no one leaves comments, and that's okay.  This blog is a story of my life, and if I don't share reality, then it's simply a masked bit of fiction that ends up being meaningless.  Why paint a pretty picture on a crappy canvas?

I read as the years go by, we shed our roles.  When we lose the roles we were emotionally committed to, there remains a hole, leaving us to wonder where our significance is now.  Guess life presents us each with a new set of challenges at each new stage of life.

Another thing we all must remember is that we older ones know what it's like to be young, whereas younger people don't know what it's like to be old.  "Although we are able to access vivid memories of our original experiences, we mostly rely on integrated memories, which are shaped by our present perspective."    

Speaking of my blogs being a story of my life, it's my joy to share a photo of my last printed book of the 2022 daily posts.  On the front cover is a photo of a prism, and on the back cover is a photo of polka dots.  The NY publishing company does a stellar job of printing for us bloggers.  

Guess it's time to head to the kitchen and put together a salad for lunch.  Am reading my book, but the print is light and difficult for me to read.  Am using a pair of cheaters to magnify the words.  It's a challenging book.  It's confusing, because the author named his characters using the same first letter, like  Aureliano, Amaranta and Arcadio.  Sometimes I make written notes to differentiate the characters so I keep them straight.  We do what we must do.

Ta-ta.   

ACCEPT THAT WHICH CAN'T BE CONTROLLED

Last night before going to bed, I googled "how to maintain peace of mind."  I did this because of a nagging thought that wouldn't go away.  Kinda like a buzzing mosquito just waiting to pierce its proboscis through my skin and suck the blood out of me.

Don't think there's any one of us humans that is exempt from what the younger generations refer to as drama.  During my lifetime, when I thought of drama, I thought of a theatrical production.  And, that's exactly what drama is today with social media and the assassination of respect for others.  This dramatic cow pucky gets flung from one life to another, and soon everyone is struggling to maintain a peaceful mind.  

I'm one who seeks to solve problems, not multiply them.  Thus, last night's google search.  What I found re-emphasizes the Serenity Prayer.  We must accept what we cannot control.  I asked myself:  Can I change what's bothering me?  Answer:  No, I cannot.  Therefore, it's up to me to accept the situation for what it is and let go.  

There's another bit of advice I'm giving myself, and that is to lower my expectations of others.  When we strive to be the best we can be, we start expecting others to live by the same rules as we do.  That's where my problem is, and it's gotta stop.  The minute we lower our expectations, it's almost impossible to be disappointed.  

Our minds are the cauldrons that boil up our frustrations into bubbling dramas that permeate and destroy our sense of calm and harmony.  For decades, I've been reading and studying self-help books, writing personal journals, all in an attempt to figure out and deal with life as it presented itself to me.  After all these years, I'm still working to accept the way things are, plus lower my expectations.  I'm very aware that I expect more from others than they're probably able to give.  I think it's how our generation was raised.  There's really no right or wrong, simply individual paths that cross and cause chaos.  Our lives become cluttered with residue from not the wisest choices others have made.  It's that business of keeping one's nose in one's own business.  

Have started reading One Hundred Years of Solitude.  The 7-generation family name is Buendia.  Take away 2 letters, and that's my family name.  Interesting.  It's kind of a challenging book, I'm finding.  Like every book I've read, there will be morsels of wisdom that will stay with me when the last paragraph is read.  

Sure is gloomy out.  It's just me and the fuzzy one home now.  This is perfect weather for being lazy.  Think it's time I lower my own expectations and embrace late life and the comforts it offers.  Till the morrow..........

TRIVIA TODAY

Question:  What is the biggest island in the world?  Answer:  Greenland.  Most of Greenland is covered by an ice sheet.

Question:  Where would you find an ISBN number?  Answer:  On a book.  ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number.  It is a unique number identifier assigned to different editions and variations of the publication. 

Question:  What color are aircraft black boxes?  Answer:  Bright orange.  It's ironic that the black boxes aren't black.  The reason behind the choice of color is to be easily recovered after accidents.

Question:  The fingerprints of which animal extremely resembles the human fingerprints?  Answer:  Koala.  They're so similar that it's even hard to distinguish the difference between human and koala fingerprints.

Question:  "Alcohol" is a word derived from which language?  Answer:  Arabic.  It is derived from the Arabic word "Al-Kuhl," meaning 'body-eating spirit.'

Question:  Ernest Evans became famous after changing his name to what?  Answer:  Chubby Checker.  His stage name became Chubby (as in plump) Checker (to represent the tabletop game) after his famous impression of Fats Domino became widely associated with his performance.

Another partial G-clan gathering at our place yesterday.  Our niece, husband, son, his girlfriend and a family friend shared with us an afternoon of refreshments, Dale's famous chili with lotsa toppings and freshly baked cranberry-orange bread with butter.  Dessert was devil's food cake topped with cool whip, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup and almonds.  

Today is rainy, and the forecast is calling for storms this afternoon.  The book "One Hundred Years of Solitude" arrived, and I'm chomping at the bit to get into it.  Will be interesting to read a fictional book written by a guy from Argentina in 1967.  

Have submitted my article to the editor of our monthly Venny Newsletter.  The boyfriend suggested a piece about the new pool table recently installed.  I researched billiards and the game of pocket pool and came up with a history of the game of pool, which I hope the readers will find interesting.  Like all else, there's history and a whole lot we don't know about the every-day things around us.  At home on the farm we had a regulation size pool table that my brother bought, and never did I think about the history of playing pool.  

Cuddy and I snuggled in bed early last evening, 10 o'clock we shut off the lights.  One thing for sure, I'm worn out when our guests leave.  But, we sure did have an afternoon that will fit perfectly in the memory album.  Three generations together, sharing and caring, that's pretty special.  Any way you slice it, in this time of human social interactions, peace and harmony are paramount.  

This morning when I was on YT, a video popped up explaining why God removes people from our lives.  Didn't take time then to watch the 38-minute video, but most definitely will later today.  It's something we all have to deal with sooner or later, and some insight might be beneficial to the understanding of why certain ones exit our lives.  Just maybe there is a good reason, one that is designed for our best interests.  

This is one of our favorite days, raining and gloomy.  We have the lamps lit, and we're in our cocoon safe and sound.  Cuddy is snoozing in his bed.  Once in awhile he looks up to see if we're both in our recliners.  Then he lays his head down and goes back to sleep.

Ta-ta for today. 

NACHO PARTY

 Why is time fleeting like this?  How is it possible that already it's mid-January?  Wasn't it just Christmas???

First, to report on our nacho party gathering.  Before our guests arrived, I posted a sign on our unit door saying, Enter at Your Own Risk.  That generated giggles right off the bat.  Our 8-some reunited with laughs, we sipped and supped.  Three of the guests had lived in Texas, and when they saw our nacho bar they reacted with excitement, "This is like being back in Texas!"  A super-duper-diddy-dandy succcess.  But, how can a party be anything but great when the people themselves are the best of the best.

Friday, the day after, we were lounge lizards.  Nibbled on leftovers and spent the day loving little Cuddy.  Yesterday, Saturday, we did pretty much the same.  Late afternoon, Venny's computer technician stopped over, and we had a wonderful visit with him.  Tis a small world.  The boyfriend knows his girlfriend and his mother.  He revived my admiration for a younger generation after he told us about how he started his business and how it's grown.  A lot of personal effort and old-fashioned gumption.  We're blessed to have someone like him looking after our internet network.  

Today we're getting company.  Our niece and husband are coming over.  Dale has a batch of his famous chili on the stove.  I borrowed a chocolate cake mix from my buddy downstairs and made that.  Will dolly it up with caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, cool whip and chopped pecans.  Have appetizers ready to pop in the oven.  

A tad gloomy outdoors.  At 4:30 this morning the fuzz bucket was thirsty, so we got up.  He wanted to sleep the remainder of time in his bed in the living room.  So, I brought my pillow out and slept by him on the couch.  

Our doorbell rang yesterday, and one of the gals handed us a plate of freshly-baked cookies that were still warm.  OMG.  Talk about delish.  I'm here to say that I have zero-nada willpower when it comes to food.  They say our tastebuds die as we age, like go from 30,000 down to 10,000.  I'm thinking mine are wired wrong and are increasing.  Two vices have I:  food and computer.  

That's it for this morning.  The boyfriend is looking at me with wonderment, like when are you going to come and help me get ready for our guests.  It does him good to steer the ship.  I'd probably plow us into an iceberg!

Ta-ta till the morrow. 

 Stopping in to quickly post a few words.  We're getting set for a nacho party starting at 5, with drinks, appetizers, nachos with lots of toppings, concluding with simple Little Debbie's heart-shaped cakes.  A finger-food meal.  

The nacho bar will consist of nacho chips, hot nacho cheese, taco-flavored hamburger, refried black beans, shredded lettuce, green onions, black olives, tomato salsa, guacamole salsa, cream cheese and jalopeno peppers.  Everyone can make their own meal according to the toppings they like.  As for me, I'll put some of everything on mine, cuz I'm one who likes all the toppings.

The guacamole salsa has a real zing, kinda hot and vinegary.  Not everyone likes hot and spicy, so we tried to make most of the toppings mild.  We love tacos and nachos and this makes for an easy meal to serve.  

We have nighttime visitors, and we captured a photo the other evening from our spare bedroom window.  The deer walked through the trellis.  How sweet is that.  

Best put my sweatshirt in the dryer to wear for the party.  The table needs setting, floors need to be swept and vacuumed, showers taken and then we're ready to spend time with friends.  I say it over and over again, but when one thinks about 8 billion people living on this planet, how fortunate we are to have others in our lives who share life's good times and difficult times.  The best part is getting together, sharing and laughing, yet caring for one another and keeping their best interests at heart.    

Life has its stages, and those stages each require a unique type of friendship.  When we're young and the world is our oyster, we mix with lots of different personalities.  Along the way, good friends become besties, and sometimes besties choose other paths and leave us with memories.  But, when the life ruler gets shorter and shorter, the ones who have loyally stood beside us throughout the journey, well, they're the gold nuggets.  Then there are those we meet for the first time during our last stages, and those are blessings beyond words.  Life is a string of gifts doled out as we need.  Life is also a string of losses and heartbreaks.  But, there's always new gifts to replace the ones we've lost.  That's the business of one door closing and another door opening.  It's as true as true can be.  So, for today I offer a prayer for all those who love me and who allow me to love them back.

Our G-clan postponed holiday get-together left all of us with warm and fuzzy memories.  This one photo is me and two of my darling great-nieces, who were my assistant elves during the gift exchange silliness.  

I made elf name tags for each of us G's.  Dale was Wonky Pickle Berry  and I was Tookie Twinkle Toes.  My two little elves were Pixie Peppermint Stick and Twinkles Sugar Tart.   The adults were good game players and accepted their assigned elf names throughout the day.

The tradition of making homemade ice cream (with hand-cranking) was carried out with lots of laughs and even some ice down the backs of the handle-crankers.  This year the flavor was black raspberry.  The little girls picked the berries in Grampa Gary and Gramma Debbie's woods.  It truly was the best ice cream ever.  They sent a container home with us, but it didn't last long.

Our drive up north was like driving in a fairyland, with the trees and bushes covered with hoar frost.  The word 'hoar' comes from old English and refers to the old age appearance of the frost:  the way the ice crystals form, making it look like white hair or a beard.  Like we said, only Our Creator could paint such splendor. 

Today all holiday decorations and dishes go back to storage, making room for tomorrow night's 8-some party here in our unit.  I told our friends I need to have a party.  Think we all do.  We're an 8-some that laughs and enjoys our time together.  It's nice not having to drive home, but rather walk down the hallway.  We're all on the second floor.  

Lots to do today, make appetizers and clean the house.  We work together and take coffee breaks.  I see the plants need watering, so will give them a spot of onion tea, their choice beverage.  

The book I ordered on eBay doesn't show up in transit.  I messaged the seller, sometimes packages get lost.  I'm having the jitters waiting to get started reading the book.  Today there won't be time to read, but hopefully by the weekend the book will be in my hands.  

Good Sunday morning........The siren woke us this morning at 6:30.  We for sure have crossed over the line to old age.  Neither of us know how we could've possibly gotten up at 5 every day, worked sometimes overtime, came home, and worked or partied till 10 o'clock when we went back to bed.  Getting up is now an effort, and the day ahead looks like a road trip from home to the east coast.  

Hopefully tomorrow's post will be filled with funnies after today's G-clan holiday party.  My feet are getting cold thinking about the craziness I have planned for them, but they oughta be used to it by now.  It's just the people my age don't usually act so silly, but I'm addicted to silliness.  Under my senior class photo in the 1964 Yearbook is written "sometimes somewhat silly."  I'll probably be a medical wonder at some point in the future.  They'll ask themselves, Is she nuts or is she okay?  

Gotta put the veggie pizza together, wrap our two presents, gather my stuff together, shower, take Cuddy to the sitter.....all before we depart for the north country.  Weather is perfect for being out on the roads, with no precipitation in the forecast.  If there was, we'd stay put.  No more risk-taking for these two birds.  The nest is where we belong on days of icy roads and slushy snow.  Back when we were young and worked, we could never figure out why old people were on the roads in bad weather.  Well, here we are, and we'd better have the brains to do what keeps us safest. 

Got through a whole bunch of pictures again yesterday.  Must persevere with the project.  The boyfriend reported our Venny storage space needs tweaking again, so one day when I get in one of my throwing-out moods, we'll go down and throw more stuff away.  Gotta be honest and say that my spouse has a harder time with tossing than I do.  It's important that I don't push too hard, cuz we each have our own personal sentiments and attachments.  Maybe it's because I've had to let go of so much during my lifetime that now it's easy for me to do so.  I keep reminding myself that everything that happens in life has a purpose.  Looking back, I can honestly say that those words are true.  At the time, it's not easy to understand.  Sometimes it takes years and years for everything to fall into place.  It's until that point that we are able to understand what happened and why.  Our Creator doesn't put our lessons on a chalkboard like a teacher.  He has his own way of teaching us.  And, let me tell you, he can be a tough teacher sometimes.  

Best scoot.  Have a lot to do in a very short time.  Wish us well, and pray that I don't end up in the psych ward after presenting my Christmas program!

An email awaited this morning from the NY publisher of blogs advising that my order didn't process, but the payment did.  Had to re-enter all information, add the coupon code plus another code that would fix the payment problem.  Talk about a circus.  After three tries, got it accomplished.  

Have had my nose in old photos.  Sorting into give-aways and keepers containers.  Will have to go through the keepers again at a later date to eliminate even more.  For now the goal is to pass on the pictures that need to be passed on to the generation after me.    

Tomorrow we're having the G-clan Christmas.  I'm in charge of the gift exchange.  I have some silliness planned for them.  They're going to have to endure one more year of their aunt's insanity.  Not really sure what's more fun in life than planning a party.  Our hostess is serving brunch, so we'll need to leave home by 8:30.  Cuddy is going to his Venny sitters.  Our contribution to the party is a veggie pizza, so we will need to make the crust tonight, cut up the veggies, make the cream cheese spread so all we need to do in the morning is put the pizza together.  Our silly gift exchange is $5 something edible starting with the second letter of the middle name.  Dale's a D and I'm an H.....Edward and Therese.

Think I'll take a break now and watch some YT videos.   My brain is flying like a bat at night with memories of the photos of the past.  One thing for sure, we have lived a full life, had tons of fun along the way, and are still squeezing the orange.  Want to get every last drop of juice out of this thing called life.

P.S.  If my readers have had a problem leaving comments, I think I've fixed the problem.  Went to settings and changed one.  Thanks, Alice, for calling this to my attention.  

FREE THINKER

How can it be Friday already?  Not that it matters to my existence, but it seems Friday comes around a whole lot faster now than when we were working.   The day is overcast, but lighter than the last few days.  Winter white is back again, except the snow on our deck is gone.  

Slept late again....went to bed at 2 a.m.  Am still hooked on the Patty Mayo bounty hunter videos.  With YT, one's mind stretches out in more directions than I thought possible.  Anytime new life situations enter my brain, I'm wowed by what I see.  If we don't see what other people's lives are like, then we think theirs is just like ours.

There's one part of our society that is sort of mind-boggling, and that is hoarding.  Some homes are absolutely stuffed with stuff.  Oh, sure, I'm the first to joke about my messy bessy corner, but that's only a stack of papers, a few books, and one or two of my spoon rings laying around.  Hoarder's homes make ours look like it's null and void of stuff.  Migod, how the world has changed.  Goes to show just how materialistic the western world is.  Our ancestors came to America in the mid-1800s with their life possessions packed inside a trunk. 

Have watched the hoarder shows on the telly, and the people who suffer with this condition get upset when a crumpled piece of paper is put into a garbage bag.  The human condition is unique in 8 billion ways.  The sad part of life today is that our minds are set to see the world from our eyes only.  That's why there's the great divide among us.  I'm of the belief that the more we can introduce our minds to, the more flexible we become in our opinions.  For my personal benefit, the greatest words ever spoken were THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX.  It's been my way to kick the walls of the box out and think far outside its boundaries.  Back in the old country, this type of person was known as a Free Thinker.

There are 7 ways to know if you are a free thinker........you are always questioning; you love to read, you value logic, you're spiritual/not religious, you admit what you don't know. you enjoy a good debate, you are open-minded, and you ignore the media.  

Its difficult being the only free thinker in any relationship.  It's like being the black sheep in the family.  Trust me, I know.  When we raised sheep on the farm, I always loved the rare black one more than the others.  We had something in common, and we both knew it.

Our society has grown insanely judgmental.  Social media venues make it very easy to slam and slaughter another person with words that cannot be taken back, or forgiven for that matter.  The words of hate that are screamed at another, well, those words become the screamer's fingerprint.  Like they say, you can't change the spots on a leopard.   I don't think any of us can escape this world without being on the receiving end of a hateful person.  Not everyone is willing to wear their life on their sleeve like I do.  Why paint a picture to deceive or impress?  Those of us who are filled with love cannot deal with the person filled with hate.  When it comes from a family member, at first it's disbelief, then gradually changes to acceptance.  There's only one viable option at that point, and that is to refuse to hate back and simply let go. Kinda like letting go of the string tied onto a helium balloon. 

BLOG BOOK ORDERED

Each year my blogs are printed into a hard-cover book.  The NY company that publishes these blogger books tossed out a 50% discount for the first five days of January 2023.  This chick made sure she scrambled together the necessary data and what would have cost $158, cost $82 with shipping.  In this edition will be all the blogs under the name Prisms and Polka Dots.  

The boyfriend went to his routine doctor's appointment and will pick up the ingredients for the veggie pizza we'll be taking to our belated Christmas G-clan gathering this coming Sunday.  We have a sitter lined up for Cuddy, so we'll be good to go.  

Gotta tell about last night.  It was 2 o'clock when we were going to bed last night, and Cuddy was sound asleep in his bed in the living area.  Rather than wake him, I decided to sleep on the couch near to him.  Well, the lights went off and I checked to see he was still sleeping.  The little stinker had gotten up and was waiting to go to bed in the bedroom.  So, that's what we did.  It's amazing how our pet children are creatures of habit.  That's how they are able to live with and alongside us.  When the routine gets out of sync, so do they.  Regardless, we both got a good night's sleep, and he stayed in bed the whole rest of the night.

Snow fell overnight.  The parking lot and streets are already plowed and cleared.  The world looks very peaceful from my little corner.  We still have the lighted garland by the telly, and the lights look pretty.  Never can have too much light, especially when it's in color.  

Last night's dishes are in the sink, so will put them in the dishwasher before tackling my family photo project.  I'm making a list of the projects that I want to accomplish this year.  That way I can cross them off, one by one, and salute myself for jobs well done.  I'm proficient in avoidance....it's so easy for me to rationalize putting things off for another day.  Hopefully having a chart will be a helpful discipline.  

DAY 4 of 2023

A crazy night.  Cuddy is getting in the habit of needing a drink during the night and then not wanting to go back to our bed, but instead to his bed in the living area.  That means I graduate to the 2-recliner couch, which is a nightmare for sleeping lengthwise.  It's the perfect recipe for morning pain.  But, for Cuddy, I do everything.  His ear is still having a discharge, and that might have something to do with his being a bit off kilter.

Woke up about 8:30, but then fell into the deepest sleep.  Guess what time I woke up?  12:30.  Dale let me sleep, cuz I've had distressing stuff on my mind and he was happy to see me sleeping soundly.  Half the day is already gone, and I just got up.

The balcony has a light layer of snow....pretty.  Yesterday was a dreary, rainy day.  Watched movies and a series I found about the guys who work for bail bondsmen and go out and find fugitives who have warrants out for not appearing in court.  OMG, what a learning experience that's turning out to be.  We think we live in a whacked up world, and then we see just how whacked up it is.  These guys find fugitives hiding with their bodies folded up inside vents and even kitchen cupboards.  The bad guys fight furiously so as not to get taken to jail.  Sometimes it takes four or five big guys to restrain the fugitive.  

Today I'm starting a big project.  Am going through all my family photos.  Will write on each one so later generations' benefit.  Don't know if there will ever be anyone interested in the photos, but I shall do my part in identification.  Sad to see pictures in thrift stores that are complete unknowns to the world.  It's no different than looking at a jar of Gramma's buttons.  Every button is simply a button, and in old pictures every person is no different than a button.   

I won the 99 cent bid on the book on eBay, One Hundred Years of Solitude.  No one else bid.  Shipping from Pennsylvania is $5, but that's still a frugal purchase.  Can't wait for the book to be delivered so I can dive in and see why it has earned the rave reviews.    

FIRST DATE ANNIVERSARY

 Watched the 1989 movie Steel Magnolias last evening.  Old movies and old photos show the wretched aging process and how it changes actresses and actors  like the rest of us.  The movie stirred up both giggles and tears.  Shirley McClane, in my opinion, was the funniest of the actresses in that movie.

The one line that struck me was when Dolly Parton, the hairdresser, says there is no such thing as natural beauty.  When a person stops to think about physical beauty, it's quite true.  Think of all the health and beauty aids we use to maintain our masks for the public eye.  On the cuddle-in days, there's no eye shadow or lipstick on this girl's face.  We dolly ourselves up for the world, but in the end even makeup doesn't work.  They say our ears and our noses keep growing, and maybe that's what helps Nature do it's voo-doo magic.  Did you ever have the experience of a younger person looking at your photo when you were young and saying, "Is that really you?"  Well, I have, and the words felt like four spears being shoved into my aorta.  

The boyfriend left to go to a general Venny meeting.  I'm staying home with Cuddy.  Pets aren't allowed down in the great room.  Yesterday Dale noticed Cuddy had a problem with one of his ears, a dark dried guck.  The vet's office was closed cuz of Monday being the observance of New Year's.  I called his groomer, and she saw him within a half hour.  She cleaned his ear out and sent home some medicated ear solution to clean his ear for a few days.  He's all taken care of, and we'll watch him closely.  

We didn't get the rain that was expected, nor the ice.  Today is very overcast and dreary out.  Another cozy-in day.

Today is the anniversary of our first date back in 1964.  Yup, do the math on that, and it scares the crap outta us.  Went to a teen hop to see the Trashmen whose hit was The Bird.  I remember what we both wore, and mostly the slow dances where we barely moved.  The details of that night are as clear to both of us as though it was last week.  Sometimes we laugh how we say the same things at the same time and have totally 100% same reactions and opinions.  Oh, once in awhile we'd like to box the other's ears, but those times are situational responses, not lingering habits.  We have one wish, and that is that we can both get on the Big Bus at the same bus stop someday.  Neither of us wants to be the one left behind.  

Have a 99 cent bid on the book One Hundred Years of Solitude written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Argentina.  Reviews hail the book as one that every person should read.  The bidding will be over in 6 hours, so I'll take the risk that no other bids will come in.  I'm seeing a lot of memes on FB about books and reading.  People are enjoying staying home with their books, cuz it's too 'peoply' outside.  

The boyfriend put together a vegetable soup in the crockpot for supper.  Soothing to have a soupy aroma in the house on wintry days like this.  I'll close with this quotation......

Do you have a kinder, more adaptable friend in the food world than soup?  Who soothes you when you are ill?  Who refuses to leave you when you are impoverished and stretches its resources to give a hearty sustenance and cheer?  Who warms you in the winter and cools you in the summer?  Yet who also is capable of doing honor to your richest table and impressing your most demanding guests?  Soup does its loyal best, no matter what undignified conditions are imposed upon it.  You don't catch steak hanging around when you're poor and sick, do you?  Author:  Judith Martin 

DAY 2 of 2023 - WINTER STORM ADVISORY

Found these gentle goals on FB this morning and thought I'd help spread them across the world.  They are simple statements, yet profound in content.....

Just checked the weather radar for our area.  Not good.  There's a winter storm headed our way, with precipitation to begin this afternoon around 2 o'clock.  As I look out the windows, there's that look and feel of bad weather coming nearer.  

We're into day #2 of the new year.  My Venny friend Sharon stopped over yesterday.  She had been in WM and bought Cuddy a little bed for $4.98.  It's the cutest, a tiny bit small, but sweet nonetheless.  Sharon and I share and care.....two rhyming words with profound meaning.  When any relationship feels the pain of not caring and sharing, well, that's a pity.  Sadly, when we don't share, we don't care.  Seems to be my experience the older I get, the less others care.  It feels like the dying process begins a long time before the actual event happens.  Drop by drop, life drips away from us, leaving us dumbfounded and perturbed at the same time.  People change, circumstances change, and we're expected to hobble our way along as though everything is hunky dory.  

While I was away from posting for a bit, a new Canon printer was delivered to our unit.  My beloved HP Envy 4520 suddenly stopped working.  My research led me to believe that some printers are no longer compatible with Chromebooks, so that's why I ordered a new one that supposedly was.  Well, we unpacked and set up the new one, and it just did not suit my expectations.  First of all, the small menu screen was so small that I was unable to read it without my nose touching.  Secondly, the paper came out and there was no paper tray.  The paper simply fell on the floor as it came out.  SO, after a couple days of contemplation, I decided Canon was going back to Amazon.  I did the necessary entry of information to get labels from UPS.  The printer was shipped in one package and the inkjet cartridges in another.  

UPS left only one label at the front desk and didn't bother coming to our unit to pick up the printer and cartridges.  My next move was to find a phone number for Amazon.  We all know what those phone conversations can be like if, in fact, there's an actual person on the other end.

My phone connected with another phone, and a virtual person spoke to me.  When that wasn't working, an actual person from one of the Asian countries spoke to me.  This is where it gets interesting.  It was hard to understand him, but when I asked him to please speak slower, he thanked me for understanding.  He spoke slower.  When I explained the problem, he told me several times not to worry.   I'm here to say that this person straightened out the whole mess for me.  The next day a UPS guy knocked on our unit door, he attached two labels to two packages, and went on his way.  SO, I'm here to say that the Asian person named Dennis was by far the most helpful, kindest and most efficient telephone assistant I've ever communicated with.  He showed, and reassured, me that kindness is the universal fix-all in this world. Yup, he cared and he shared. 

That left me printer-less.  My persistent, and sometimes annoying, brain started churning thoughts about why my beloved HP Envy 4520 printer had stopped working.  I asked the boyfriend to bring it back out.  After about four hours of trying this and that and the other thing, I was successful in connecting Chromebook to Envy Printer and it worked like a charm.  We were so close to throwing the printer away, but thanks to my persistent, and sometimes annoying, brain, I refused to believe the printer was at fault.  The one piece of this puzzle was that Dale wasn't able to print his daily sudoku puzzle from his phone.  That's what alerted me that it wasn't the Chromebook connection at fault.  Long story short, I'm back to using the beloved Envy 4520.  

Let's clink our coffee cups to a year of blessings and the ability to realize and recognize the tiny blessings that sprinkle down on us every day.  Let's share and care while we're still speeding along on life's Autobahn.

Ta-ta.

DAY 1 of 2023

 Happy New Year wishes to all my faithful followers.  My prayer is that we all receive blessings in our personal lives that foster peace of mind and peace of the heart.  

Our holiday celebrations were small, meaningful and memorable.  The days of glitz and glitter, booze and party hats are in the rear view mirror for us.  Now, we're grateful to be well and upright.  That's the way the road of life goes.  

Dense fog has us enveloped at present.  Feels like we're in a cocoon.  The boyfriend is making a special surprise dinner for us tonight.  I have my thoughts on what it may be, but I'll let the little kid in me wait.  

Anyone out there with a new year's resolution?  Think the idea of setting goals is programmed into my genes, cuz I cannot help but put in place some new action that will better my life in some small way.  Seems one can always find a part of daily life that can be tweaked just a tad.  One immense hurdle has been erased from my mother board of vices, and that's the business of resolving to lose weight in the new year.  At my age, that's no longer gonna be something I waste my time battling.  If they can't fit my ashes into my burial box, they can toss the overflow into the roadside ditch.  Then maybe I'll grow back as a wild rose or itch weed.  It's a thought.

Complete custody of Cuddy was turned over to us on Christmas Day.  He is ours until April.  Needless to mention, we're loving him to proverbial pieces.  He loves his little gray and white striped t-shirt and wears it all the time.  

We're ever so happy we didn't put up a tree or do a lot of decorating in our unit.  Isn't it something how one minute holiday decorations feel appropriate, and within hours they feel out of place and ready to be returned to storage.  Now we're aiming for Valentine's Day, where everything will be hearts and flowers.  The colors red and pink take over for the red and greens.  Trees are replaced by hearts and boxes of candy.  At least for a short time love will be in the air, acts of temporary sweetness will be showered on spouses and significant others, and then life will switch over to St. Patrick's Day and the wearing of the green.  Colors have a lot to do in our celebrations, don't they?

Tomorrow Monday the Rose Bowl Parade will provide us with entertainment.   The tournament's "Never on Sunday" tradition has been long-standing since 1893.  Pasadena's spectacular parade of roses is one of life's beautiful examples of human creativity.  Thousands of individuals work hard to bring this event into our living rooms every year.  The parade was canceled in 2021 because of the pandemic, and in 2022 was held with a mask mandate.  

As we look ahead, we'll all be faced with endings and new beginnings.  Bottom line is we gotta do our best to adjust our thinking to graciously accept what is.   

From our home to yours......happy new year!