XYZ'2- The Endings , or Beginnings?

Here we are at the ending of another run through of alphabetical blogging. So why have I combined X, Y, and Z? I have had reasons to be thinking about many school related events this last week or two. And I have been thinking about signs and symbols that we always associate with school. Of course the ABC's just quickly come to mind. Everywhere, in stores, I am beginning to see displays all designed to woo parents into starting the back to school shopping. And don't we always see
ABC's on these displays? But, being a retired teacher, back to school always means the ending of summer to me. So, XYZ, being the end of the alphabet, just seems more
appropriate.

This morning as I ate breakfast on the porch, I pondered endings. Certainly the extreme heat and humidity had ended somewhat. It was a beautiful morning, and very comfortable sitting on the porch. Just glorious to be out, after some time in the air conditioning. As I sat and watched two kingfisher birds fussing, scolding, and dive bombing one another, I heard cicadas buzzing to beat everything. Now there is a sound that means it is indeed late summer. And Cheryl and I have been having conversations about her returning to school, getting her classroom ready, wondering about Taylor's starting at AHS this fall. Wow! And wasn't it just a few days ago that I was writing about summer finally beginning? I thought this deal of regretting short summers would be over when I retired.

I have also been thinking about making signs for the Friends of the Library August sale, and it is to be a "Back to School Sale." We will be featuring materials for teachers to use, and backpacks filled with kids' books. I have been gathering pictures for my sign boards that feature school items.

I have also been reading those back to school advertisements in the paper. I have "adopted" a child through the Grace In Action program here in town. This program is designed to assist children of incarcerated parents. I never see my adopted child, but I do send cards, small gifts, etc. to celebrate her birthday and other holidays. The largest thing that we do for our adopted child is buy a backpack for school filled with grade approriate school supplies. We also buy our child at least one school uniform. My adopted girl is a third grader, and wears the same sized clothes that I do. She is a big girl! But I must admit that it is fun and exciting to get to go Back to School shopping at my age.

So you see, a person can begin to see that summer is coming to an end one of these days, and school time is going to begin soon. So from ABC to XYZ, it is an exciting time.

W2 - Women's Connection

Since about the first year I retired from teaching, I have been attending a women's luncheon group that meets every month. Alfreda invited me to come as her guest. It was a very good luncheon with an short informational program, some music, some eating, some conversation, and a Christian inspirational speaker as the main event.
I enjoyed it, so I went back the next month.

After that meeting, someone called me and asked if I would consider making the name tags. They had asked Alfreda, and she passed the honor on to me. This is about par for the course. Attend meetings of a club for two times, then they ask you to take a job or an office. Remember, I had just retired, so I hadn't learned this lesson yet.

Well, I did agree to do name tags, and Elaine agreed to help greet people at the door, and help pin them on. So we were in business. Now, here it is 14 or 15 years later, and I have held about 10 different offices or jobs with this group, including one three year stint as chairperson. Some people just never learn.

Today, I attended the monthly luncheon. And by now I really have only small jobs with the group. I attend planning team meetings, I still co-sign checks, and I am a table hostess. But, mostly, I just get to relax and enjoy the luncheons. And that is a very good thing.

Our group actually has two names: Anderson Christian Women's Club and Anderson women's Connection. At one time, our national headquarters asked the groups to take the word Chistian out of our title. Not that we weren't Christians, but that people of no beliefs or other beliefs would feel more welcome to attend. You see, the group is an affiliate with Stonecroft Ministries, a Christian outreach ministry headquartered in Kansas City. Every Stonecroft group is organized around the same plan: an informal meeting open to anyone, good food is served, a local informational or entertaining program is offered as an enticement, sometimes music is included, and the program is highlighted with a Stonecroft speaker provided by their speaker's bureau. These speakers are women just like all of us, who have an inspirational story to tell as to how accepting Christ into their lives, has changed them dramatically.

Over the 14 or 15 years that I have attended, almost every Stonecroft speaker has been very good. And we have had some wonderfully interesting local speakers and programs, too. The Days Inn provides us with a delicious buffet every month, and they do an exceptional job of serving us. And the core group that comprises the planning team, simply come together and get the whole thing organized almost without a second thought. It all goes very smoothly - well, almost always.

Today was a lovely luncheon. Jim, the banquet manager, provided us with a delicious salad bar, a baked potato bar complete with many toppings, and coconut cream pie! A great lunch for a hot summer day. Out local special feature was Jean Shockley from the county Extension Office. She is a master gardener who specializes in herb gardening and cooking with herbs. She was very into her subject, full of fun, and provided us with samples of her herbal cooking: olive oil dip with french bread, lavender lemonade, cold tomato soup. These were just tiny sample tastes, but very good. She also teaches, free of charge, healthful cooking classes to low imcome families in Anderson. She works hand in hand with the churches that have food banks.

Lolly, our resident pianist furnished dinner music. She always does a good job. Our Stonecroft speaker was from Columbus, Ohio. Her name is Susan Thomas, a wife, mother, and grandmother, whose husband teaches at Ohio State University. She was origianlly from Alabama, and had a delightful Paula Dean accent. Her telling of her life story was filled with wonderful humor, and at the same time was a very touching story of her discontents with life, marriage, motherhood, until she was able to accept Christ into her life as her strength and guidance.

All in all, it was a most enjoyable, informational, and inspirational afternoon. All this, and I was able to be with this group of women that I have come to know and appreciate as good friends through these years. And, oh yes, every month I get to meet and make new friends who attend for the first time. Often times, they stay on and become regulars. Sometimes not. Today, at my table, were two sisters, Jean and
Esther - delightful ladies - I will be glad to have as new friends.

V2 - A Veritable Plethora of Verys

This past week has been a week of many Verys: very hot, very humid, very busy, very thankful, very vexed.

It has indeed been very hot and humid. Remember back this spring when I couldn't wait to open up the house, get outside, enjoy the warm weather and sunshine? Well, the time has been here, and then gone on to the next painful level. Here we are back in the closed-up house again, only this time with the air conditioner running constantly. The electric bill came today, and it was a shocker!

I would love to dress in my muu muu all day every day - without undies. Those Hawaiian mamas have it going on. I can't wait until after supper and I'm sure we are home for good. Then it is on with the muu muu (yes, I actually have one) and off with the bra. To tell the truth, I generally do the changing into night wear thing right after supper all year round. If you visit us in the evening, you need not dress formally. In fact, you are welcome to wear your pajamas.

Today I read all about the many things that were happening in Anderson today. Goods Chocolate and Ice cream store was having an all day festival called "Goodstock". Get it? It is a knock off of Woodstock. They had all day bands outside, and served psychadelic ice cream cones. Attendees were invited to wear their hippy garb. We drove over to join the "love-in" and have some of the psychadelic ice cream, but we took one look at all those hot people out in that sun-baked field and drove straight to McDonald's drive up for plain old vanilla. Then later we went to a quiet, sedate, air-conditioned lounge, had some wine, and listened to the Larry Mechem jazz combo. Now that's my idea of a Love-in.

Very thankful! I want to declare how much we appreciate facilities like the Golden Living Center where all the employees are doing their jobs with such kindness. Mother is making a fantastically good adjustment to her new circumstances. We went to see her this morning. She is so happy with her new "apartment". She enjoyed her coffee and cookie treat, took us for a walk to show us all the sights. We sat at her lunch table for awhile. (Middle of morning, no lunch, we were the only folks there). She told us about the folks that eat with her. She is sure all the other residents are crazy, but she is helping to care for them. Isn't it wonderful to be in a place where you think you are helping and are needed? And she likes taking care of her new room, and has reorganized the closet and all the drawers that we had so carefully labeled. But that is okay. If fact, it is gosh darn good. She feels she is in her own place, and can do things her way.

You know, it is so much easier to love someone, that you don't have to be with twenty-four hours a day. Except for Don, that is, we have learned to love one another through most all places and all times.

U2- Unless You Are Part of the Solution, You Remain Part of the Problem

Today, in this economy, all tax supported entities, whether they be schools, libraries, government agencies, etc, are suffering from deep budget cuts. These cuts result in fewer services, fewer hours, and fewer employees being available for those served.

All the time, and everywhere I go, I hear complaints, complaints, and more complaints from citizens about the fewer services and benefits they receive, and about the poor condition of streets, lawns, and buildings. And the complaints are justified, the conditions are reality. But few people seem to be willing to search for or be a part of any solutions.

That is why I was so impressed with the article in our newspaper this week about two people who are routinely doing lawn maintenance in their neighborhoods on properties other than their own - either abandoned properties or properties with absentee owners. I have read about other communities where citizens have made a united effort to do this type of thing in order that their neighborhoods and their city could be more beautiful and retain its value and desirability. Just think what could happen in Anderson, Indiana, if such an attitude and effort could be established.

This type of volunteerism need not stop with lawn care, but could be extended to agencies that are suffering from budget cuts: schools, the library, not-for-profit agencies. I know of one citizen whose child has graduated from Anderson schools,but he still volunteers time maintaining and building props for the high school band. Don
mows a couple of other yards just to improve the neighborhood. I work
with a large group of citizens, Friends of the Library, who raise funds to supplement library services.

I know of many such selfless volunteers. But I would like to challenge the citizens of Anderson to look about and see what small effort each one could make to help improve his part of the city. Don't just say, "What a shame!" as you drive past some neglected eyesore. Actually get to work and clean it up. I did see that some citizen has started trying to cut the weeds at Penguin Point on 38th Street. They must have been inspired by the story in the newspaper. Good for them!

Let's make our new city motto be: "Anderson, Indiana - Every Citizen a Problem Solver!"

T2 Tuesday: Take Time Out for Treats

Tuesday was a very welcome time out from our usual busy schedule. We had nothing scheduled for the day except a date to meet cousins Jan and David for supper at Bob Evans. It was quite a treat to get up and be slowly enjoy breakfast and newspaper in pajamas.I love a day that starts at a leisurely pace.

Of course, you never want to leave us with quiet moments for too long, we always think up ways to spend money during those down times. Don was reading the classifieds, and found a small upright freezer for sale. We have been wanting a small freezer to supplement our meager freezer space for quite some time. So he took himself off to see the freezer, and I began freeing space in the garage for said freezer.

I moved things from garage into the closet in the den where we did have Mother's clothes. I emptied two cabinets, and called Sarah to see if she could use them for storage for her new place. However, Don came home and said the freezer was really very bad. So we will continue our search for said freezer. But he did stop at the farmers market and bought even better things for lunch. We enjoyed a true summer lunch: corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes, and strawberry short cake. Yum!

Sarah came by in the afternoon, but the cabinets were too large for her to use. But we enjoyed cokes and a long visit on the screened-in porch, which was surprisingly comfortable and breezy for such a warm day. I did so enjoy our visit. It was really better than getting rid of the cabinets. We are now onto Plan B as to cabinets and freezer. One dealer has several small freezers being delivered on Friday for our consideration.

Is anyone out there interested in two large cabinets, one enclosed with doors and the other an open bookshelf? I am sure there will be a solution.

And we thoroughly enjoyed dining with Jan and David. I am so glad that Jan called and planned this date. Too often we just say that we should do these things, and then never carry through. Jan says that they plan a Bronnenberg/Brizendine picnic reunion in September. We really look forward to that!

S2 - Scrambling Figures of Speech

I love language, love reading it, love writing it, love working word puzzles, and love laughing at language mix-ups. I even enjoy my own foolish mistakes at times. This morning I had a really big laugh at my own writing. While on the computer this morning, I decided to reread the blog that I had written last night. HO! I found a doozy of a mistake that really made me laugh.
I should probably make you, dear reader, go and look for it. But I will gladly point it out, if you promise to laugh, too.

While describing my dearly beloved cat, Frank, I said, "Let me give you a little bio about this paradox of cat virtue." Isn't that a beauty of a language mix-up? On second thought, though, it may have been a Freudian slip. Frank is definitely more of a paradox (An opinion contrary to one generally held), than he is a paragon (A model, a type of perfection). I'm sure that my opinion of Frank is contrary to most. And his opinions of most everybody are probably contrary, too. But I loved my mistake. It gave me a whopper of a laugh to start the day.

Do you read the cartoon "Crankshaft" in the daily newspaper. Ed Crankshaft is the curmudgeon and the main character in the strip. He drives a school bus, terrorizes the garden club, and periodically puts his charcoal grill into orbit. This year his city decided to save money on fireworks for the 4th of July, and just hired Ed and his charcoal grill. But, Ed is at his funniest when he mixes his metaphors, which he does often.

Ed said that after all firing up a grill wasn't rocket surgery. And on the 4th sunshine rained down on their parade.

On the school bus he tells the students to button their seat belts, not to eat with their mouths full, and that they will make like a tree and head out. When one child is unhappy, Ed says that he can cry on a dime. The kids were so unhappy, there wasn't a dry tear in the bus.

Well, he wanted to get his act in gear, he could hear the handwriting on the wall, and he didn't want to burn his bridges until he came to them, so he flew off to greener pastures.

STOP! Once I get started, I can't stop mixing metaphors. I'm sure you have some favorites that I haven't heard. If so, share them with me.

R2 - Resides in Redbud, but Really Want to Roam

No, I am not talking about Don in this blog, nor am I talking about myself. So who is it in this family who might have the urge to roam? I am talking about Frank the cat, the best cat in the world.

I am sure if you have a cat, or have a friendship with a cat, you might disagree with that last statement. And I am certainlly looking at Frank from my personal point of view. But he IS a darned good cat. He is quite handsome , I think, looking a lot like Morris, only with a few spots on his nose. But they just add a dash of charm. He is a low investmemt, high dividend kind of cat. He eats just a little, uses the litter box just a little (and is very neat about it), and requires very little in care and maintenance.

Let me give you a little bio about this paradox of cat virtue. He and his sister were born on our porch at our lake place on Lake Freeman. They were born behind the electrical meter box on our deck one fine July day at the same time I was entertaining ladies with a lunch on the deck.
Thankfully, they remained out of sight until the party was over.
Their mama was a tiny semi-wild cat barely out of kittenhood herself. It was her first litter, and she was a bit overwhelmed.

We came and went during the rest of the summer, and she moved the babies around to various spots in our park. One week we found them in a old truck tire sweating it out in the sun. But she always brought them back to our porch on the days we were there each week. I think she chose us, in all her kitty wisdom, to be their adopted parents. They took to us right away, Frank especially. He would snuggle up under my chin and purr madly. That is still his favorite spot, even as big and old as he is now. So when summer ended and the park closed in October, we couldn't stand the thought of leaving them there to try and survive through the winter. So we brought them home, and they became ours forever.

Now, I said Frank was handsome, but Johnny was the beauty. She was a calico with black, dark orange, and white spots. Her fur was thick and glossy. She never had the personality that Frank has, but she was very sweet. Unfortunately, she developed diabetes and died at age eight. But Frank lives on, and is now thirteen.

To tell you the truth, Frank really doesn't do any tricks, he isn't very playful, he is great at taking naps, and he loves to sit on laps and get lots of petting. Like I said: low maintenance, quiet, lazy, a perfect old pet for old folks like us. He loves to survey his kingdom from the screened in porch, showing absolutely no interest in the occasional dog that visits the yard, and very little interest in all the birds. So how do I know, or how can I say that Frank has the urge to roam?

Well, Frank has one and only one trick that he performs: if Don gets out the atlas to consider a trip, Frank simply has to sit on the atlas or lie down on the pages. If Don is at his desk, Frank sits on the atlas at the desk. If Don is on the bed, Frank lies down on the atlas on the bed. If Don opens the atlas and puts it on the floor, now that is heaven. Frank stretches out over two pages of maps! Not only that, but he takes his paw and turns the pages until he finds his favorite state, evidently the place he wants to visit.

I don't know, but yesterday he chose Wisconsin. Sounds good to me. I'm a bit concerned, though. He gets a bit upset just riding to the vet's office that is one mile away. Although he loves the vet's office, and he loves the vet once he gets there.

I think we will have to think twice before taking him traveling. After all, he might miss the two dozen or so napping spots at home.

Q2 - I'm Quite Rich

I believe I have actually reached a time in my life when I am living the life of a rich lady. Amazing , that! Because I have very little money.

Let me tell you how to do this. First you go to my beauty shop. Now I have thoroughly described my hokey little beauty shop in a previous blog entry, so I won't go into details. But, today, my beautician offered to drive me home because she needed to find out how to find my house. You see she has a new client who happens to be one of our new neighbors. This lady cannot drive, so Dorothy has offered to pick her up, and drive her home. So Dorothy says that she might as well pick me up each week since she will be in the neighborhood. Only the very rich have door to door service from their hair salon. I may start calling it a salon even though they were cooking sauerkraut today.

The second thing you do is meet a good friend for lunch. Today, I actually had lunch with ten good friends, so I must be very rich indeed. You are very rich if you have a wealth of good friends. So bless them for adding so much to my life.

Third, you become a high roller and wine and dine at a casino. Does playing a penny slot machine qualify you for high rollership? I think it does. And we didn't wine, but we did have a sandwich this evening at the casino deli. Uh huh, very rich indeed.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the best part of my richness! While I was out to lunch like a rich lady, our daughter cleaned my house! Talk about something that makes you feel altogether spoiled and well to do, try coming home from lunching with the ladies to a spotlessly clean home that you didn't clean!

And it is wealth beyond your wildest dreams when you have loving children who are so willing to help you out.

P2 - Peaceful to Pow!

Yesterday was a day of extreme contrasts - we traveled from a peaceful, quiet morning to an evening of POW, as we celebrated our nation's birthday.

It began, this day of celebration, with a quiet trip to Muncie to celebrate the fact that we were able to follow the advice to not visit Mother for a week. Well, it was one day short of a week, but we were still filled with trepidation, fearing tears and pleas to come home. It was a very quiet trip to Muncie.

When we arrived at the nursing home, it was all peace and quiet. Being a holiday, all the offices were closed, and there were no extra activities going on. However, everything was polished, clean, sunlit, and serene. We found Mother in her room napping. She was one very happy lady when she woke up and saw us there. After greetings, hugs, and assurances that we were all okay, we took Mother down to the library where we shared cookies and coffee. She seemed quite happy, talked a lot in her fragmented way, trying to tell us all about her new place ane her new experiences. She seems to be getting adjusted to her new life, mentioning things she liked, and few things that she doesn't like. She said, "I'm getting better, like the doctor wants." We told her how happy we are with how she is doing, and how brave she has been making the best of all these new situations. We are so relieved that she is doing well, and we are so proud of her.
I imagine that there might have been a few tears after we left, but she managed to keep a wobbly little smile as we kissed her good bye.

We then visited with David in the large main dining room. He LOVES his coffee and cookies.
It was well worth my effort of baking them at midnight the night before. Even if the aroma of oatmeal raisin cookies made Don wake up hungry. We enjoyed our visit with him, and then we went to McDonalds for a lunch of a wrap and a smoothie. McDonalds is trying to keep us healthy.
The new fruit smoothies are very good.

After traveling home to Anderson, we both spent the afternoon resting, napping, computering, and phone calls. Don fixed supper at supper time. We had sandwiches and baked potatoes.
He is getting to be quite the good cook.

Now for the POW part of the day, we went to Hoosier Part for their BIG 4th of July celebration.
We had passes to the refreshments tent outside. They had two bands playing during the evening, games, horse racing, barbeque tents...and on and on. It was soooo crowded. I think everyone in Anderson came for the celebration. A local band, The Corey Cox band played during the early part of the evening, and most of that time we stayed inside where it was air conditioned. Then at 8:3o, the big band started, and the seats were in the shade, and it was much cooler. They are called the LoCash Cowboys and are VERY country, but fun. They are all very high energy, are all over the stage, and really throw themselves into the performance. There were many young people at the concert, and many congregated at stage side to dance. It was fun to watch.

We intended to stay until the concert was over, and see the fireworks at 10:30. But I soon discovered that I am not the woman I used to be. My poor old hip and leg began to ache from sitting on those hard seats, and we were both really tired. So we left before the music was quite finished, and before the fireworks began. We soon realized how wise was this decision. All the streets and parking lots in South Anderson were packed with cars that had come out for the fireworks. I can imagine that the traffic was horrendous when everyone left after the fireworks finished.

Anyway, we came home, and our POW at the end of the evening was watching on TV the celebrations and fireworks from Washington D.C. and Boston. A little pow, a little Darvocet, and
good night.

O2 - Ought to's

I have a friend, Clara Thompson, who used to write a column in our local newspaper, I think it was called "A touch of Claraty" or something like that. When she left that job and moved to Hagerstown, she wanted some way to keep in touch with both her friends and her writing. So, for several years now she has written an E mail newsletter that she sends to many of her friends. She started out calling it the Morning Pages or MP. But eventually they often became
AP if written in the afternoon, or EP for evening.

In one of my favorites, she started out talking about all the things she should be doing that day:
I should clean up my desk, I should do a load of washing, I should weed the flower bed, etc. etc.
Then she ended with my favorite of all her gems of wisdom, "But I promised that I would not
should on myself." I loved that, and I've adopted that philosphy ever since.

But I do like to put some ideas out there, a kind of list of things that might be fun to try this summer. I think that "ought" is a much more positive word to use, and therefore inspires a more positive list of activities. What do you think?

This summer I "ought to":

Go to Bear Creek Farms, eat and hear some music, maybe Phil Dirt and the Dozers! Yes!
Try that recipe for Dulche de Leche ice cream topping.
Make a campfire, and watch the stars.
Toast some marshmallows.
Use that antique Dutch cast iron pan to make a pot pie.
Visit our old friend, Beth, at the Cambridge City Antique Mall.
Collect all of the Jane Austen novels.
Play the dictionary game again, or some call it the Fictionary game. So fun!
Get a pedicure, and maybe even a manicure. But I desperately need the pedicure.
Take a cruise down Lake Freeman on the Madam Carroll.
Sleep out in Holloman's motor home.
Do something creative with the miniatures I still have stored in the garage.
Finish those two shadow boxes.
About once a week, call an old friend I haven't talked to for awhile.

That's enough already. Summer's half over!