Monday, May 29, 2017

One Military Relative

This Memorial Day seems more solemn than others have to me. Many people are naming specific relatives who died in military service. This is something I put together for another reason but thought I'd share the story of my great Uncle John:

My maternal grandmother’s sister, Dorothea, was a widow by the time I met her. Her husband, John, served in World War I and was mustard-gassed. When he came home from the war, he worked as a plumber, but the effects of the mustard gas eventually killed him in the 1930s. 

When I knew Aunt Dorothea, she lived in La Porte, Indiana, and she was one independent woman. She had worked her way up to a supervisor at the telephone company, which was one of the few places that would hire and promote women. She also owned her own home which is quite an accomplishment for a single woman in the 1950s. I remember her as smoking Lucky Strikes, just a funny, vibrant, outspoken woman. She introduced me to tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches on white bread. 

When we would visit, there were no toys and I would amuse myself by sitting on her enclosed sun porch in the front of her house, in one of those green wicker chairs looking through her stacks of Readers Digests. I never read the articles, just the little bits of jokes and anecdotes.

But back to her husband John.   
                                                                                                    
She had a framed photo on this little table outside the bathroom door, on a crocheted doily, of her sitting on a swing and Uncle John pushing her. I was fascinated by that photo. I got up my courage once and asked her why she didn’t get married again, and she just laughed as if that were a really stupid question and told me she already had the best husband she could have had and didn’t want or need another.


Ezra growing up fast

Barb says:

He is finally walking and all of a sudden he looks like such a big boy...


Garden on a gloomy Monday

It's only in the 50s, raining on and off, but here's my garden...







Saturday, May 27, 2017

Now I have a beautiful garden

Guilermo was due at noon today to garden. He called to say he was on his way and arrived around 11 which was fine with me. He brought a helper. They did a beautiful job, and I couldn't be happier. Really. I was thinking how great it is to have someone show up, do what they're supposed to do in a way that pleases me. He even took all the empty containers/garbage with him. He even brought his own broom and swept. I'll post photos tomorrow.

Friday, May 26, 2017

News Flash: My sister and I are related!

I had given my sister and her husband DNA kits from ancestry.com for Christmas and they just now got the results. On my sister's, it told her that she was related to me (since I'm in their DNA datapool). I didn't have any doubt, of course, but it's fascinating to me that science can determine that.

Meanwhile her husband was adopted and he didn't have any surprises either...but it's interesting to know from whence you sprang.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Q&A on Words

Barbara has her PhD in linguistics so when a word question comes up, such as today, I ask her.

My question:

in regard to the montana incident, I saw a tweet that said something like "he really wailed on that guy" and I thought no, it's WALED and no definitions meaning "beat up" or "walloped" appeared for either spelling... then I checked WHALED and that wasn't it either.
 
do you know which one it is?

Her answer:

In my trusty Webster's 2nd, "whale" can mean to thrash, and it gives "wale" as another spelling -- maybe because when you lash someone with a whip, you make stripes on them that look like wide wale corduroy.  To me, saying "he really whaled/waled on that guy"  can also be just extremely screaming at someone, doesn't have to be physical.   I think it might be cognate with welt, too.

"Buffalo Babies"

That was the subject line of the first email I opened this morning... scanned the list and I picked that one. We all have different commutes to work. Marilyn came this morning (late) because she was stuck on the subway for an hour not moving... due to a fight where the police were called... luckily she had a seat -- others were standing and we were able to communicate so I knew of the delay.

But on the brighter side of commuting... this is from a friend in Denver who wrote me:

Every morning on my way to work I take a little detour through a small mountain park we have near the house. I call it my "serenity drive" and I've been doing it every morning for years - as it kind of clears my head before diving into the craziness of the day.

This morning, the buffalo herd was down from their winter pasture, and they had a raft of new babies. They were so cute and peaceful - and thought you might enjoy seeing them too.







Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Arrived in the Mail

After seeing Martin Short on TV recently, I went to Amazon and bought a used copy of his memoirs called "I Must Say" -- after his Ed Grimley character. I read the first few pages where he talks about how Ed came to be. When he and his wife had a fight, she would ask to speak to Ed who was the kinder, wiser version of Martin. He would talk to her as Ed and they'd sort out their problem and the character built from there. It was a very sweet story.

The other surprising thing is when I opened the book, it's autographed by Martin. There is a bookplate in there with his signature on it... all that from a used Amazon copy! I bet no one noticed.


Monday, May 22, 2017

Trying (successfully) to make me jealous

Those two mean girls, Fran and Mary, felt obliged to make me jealous by bragging about their beauty routine followed by Red Lobster. God, do I want a lobster taco!

Fran says:

Not only are we beautiful with plucked eyebrows lips and chins, but we are at Red Lobster. I'm now trying to snatch a  warm cheddar biscuit from Mary, who obviously plans to eat all of them before her lobster taco lunch..


So far, so good

Guillermo the gardener was due here at 11-30. He called at 11:32 to say he was on his way and would be there in 10 minutes, which he was. He checked everything out, gave me a reasonable quote, asked me if there were any colors I didn't want (orange -- I tend to go for pinks and purples) and he's coming back on Saturday at noon to do the job.

No word from gardener #1.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Critical Updates

Despite Barbara's advice (see comment in previous post) which I actually hadn't seen, I posted to Thumbtack which is where Marilyn gets her clients. I decided I want a place where you can give feedback. So I posted the job last night, was told by email I'd get 3-5 quotes, got one, and I just called the guy-- Guillermo -- who is coming to take a look tomorrow at 11:30.

Book: I'm about 100 pages in, really enjoying it, but one problem is the book is so small and thick it's hard to hold in one hand... but the story is engrossing.

Madoff Obsession: I'm watching the second special on HBO starring Robert DeNiro as Madoff.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Is this now normal?

This happens to me way too often it seems so I'm wondering maybe this is the norm these days. I contacted a gardener to come do winter clean up and plant in my garden. Contacted him last weekend and he responded... told me he was too busy all week to come, but he could come on Saturday. Fine... we selected a time of between 1 and 2 pm today... and, of course, he was a no-show. No word from him.

I haven't yet decided if I contact him and give him another chance... such a tough call. I remember complaining once about a handyman and my friend said, "Well, at least you got someone to show up." I don't get why they advertise if they don't really want the business.

Right now, I'm leaning toward not contact him and moving on with someone else. I had the same woman two years in a row who I liked, but last year, she did 1/2 of the job and then disappeared... radio silence for 3-4 weeks... finally I emailed her and said I was going to contact my credit card company to dispute the charge and she contacted me with some sob story that I don't even remember... no, it wasn't like someone died... just hectic this and crazy that... so she came to finish the job and claimed she gave me "extra" because of her screw up but I didn't want to go through that again.

Sigh, sigh, sigh... ok, I know this is a First World Problem that my gardener didn't show up, but still...

Friday, May 19, 2017

What I'm Reading

Based on a Twitter recommendation by Stephen King, I bought the first book in a trilogy... this is called Natchez Burning and it's a suspense novel about a murder. When it arrived -- Barbara came for lunch and she brought in my mail which included this book -- and the package looked like two books but I knew I'd only bought one... and it's three inches thick in paperback.

It reminded me of my snobby childhood reaction to kids complaining how many pages exactly a book was that they had to read... and as an avid reader, I always thought the longer the better... so I had to check and this one is 865 pages. A cover blurb by Stephen King says once you start, you can't put it down -- I hope that's the case.


As for lunch, Barbara and I rarely depart from certain set menus -- scrambled eggs and bacon is one; lobster rolls is one; burgers is one. Today we went medium cheeseburgers with cheddar cheese and a shared order of fries. Yum. Hadn't had a burger in weeks.

Oh, I forgot -- we have a fourth menu choice: BLTs, hers on rye toast, mine on white toast.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

My Little Anecdote of the Day

Today a client asked me how a certain process was going that we'd set up. I typed "easy flow from my end" and thought "this sounds as if I have diarrhea" so I deleted and wrote it another way.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Watching Bernie Madoff

Last night and tonight I watched a repeat of the Richard Dreyfuss (playing Bernie) and Blythe Danner (playing his wife) two-part show. I am somewhat obsessed with this story as it really hits home about the security I feel about my nest egg. So hard to imagine its being gone.

At the time Madoff was exposed, I read a piece in Huffington Post from a woman who had lost all her money and she reminded me so much of myself, right down to having worked in the magazine publishing business. What struck me is that some highers up at Conde Nast "got her into" Bernie's funds because they liked her and thought they were doing her this big favor. She was so pleased that she had the same investment person as Si Newhouse, etc.

Well, that struck home because years ago, in my 20s, I needed a tax accountant for the first time and I was introduced to an accounting firm which specialized in working with people in publishing and advertising and I felt so good that I was using the same accountant as the bigwigs at the company I was working.

I remember at the time also calling my investment firm and asking straight out "how do I know you're not like Bernie Madoff?" and the company had this presentation ready, including the fact that there is insurance for the first $500,000 and after that the company bought "private insurance" for the rest. It's really not much of a reassuring thing... I remember thinking well, now what? Ask them to send me the insurance papers so I can see for myself? And those papers could easily be forged. I didn't really seriously believe that this firm was like Bernie, but then I'd think well, neither did the people scammed by him.

Two Sundays ago, I saw a woman on Oprah's Sunday show who had lost all her money with Madoff and she called her best friend who told her "Nothing of value has been lost." Hint: Don't say that to me. I get it that I would still be alive and kicking and even this woman said she said to her friend, "This is not the time to be spiritual" -- too early.

And now of course she thinks it was a great thing that happened to her, and I thought "Yeah, if you have a best-selling book and are on Oprah and have recouped most of your money." But most people weren't that lucky. And yes, I believe luck plays a big part there.


Sunday, May 14, 2017

Spring in DC

Mary says:

These are in my neighbor's yard. It's a gorgeous but cool day, and the sun made everything open up and shine. I think the second picture is foxglove but Fran is going to fact check me.


Catching up

So I haven't been posting much for no particular reason. I think I'm caught in a "nothing much happening" time and there really isn't. Spring really hasn't come; still wearing winter type clothes and haven't done anything with my garden.

However this coming week it's supposed to get warm. I contacted a gardener via Craigslist and he actually responded so he'll be coming to check things out and do the work.

Yesterday Nancy came over for lunch and she stopped at Tal Bagels. We each had smoked turkey and swiss (with mayo!) -- hers on a sesame bagel and mine on an everything bagel and we both commented that there is nothing like a great sandwich. The bagels were super fresh, the meat was shaved thin and good cheese... can't beat it.  And of course we talked non-stop and later I was thinking that one of the qualities all my friends have is good conversationalists and I don't appreciate that really until I'm with someone with no opinions, no insights and no gift of the gab.

Let's see... what else? My 50th high school reunion (YIKES!) is held next month and one of the projects I'm involved in is classmates writing essays about their grandparents. Such interesting stories from very wealthy grandparents and constantly-cooking Italian grandma to the storybook perfect grandparents to the alcoholic dysfunctional nasty grandmother. I am formatting the stories and doing very light copyediting. I really enjoy reading all of them, and enjoyed writing my own.

So I'll try to be more faithful in posting... we'll see.

Three Little Kittensq

These are Mary's great-nieces who had "Hello Kitty" faces painted at a fundraising event.