Never Mind...

On vacation, Mary gave me a bunch of L'Occitain samples she didn't want, and I've been enjoying them. Yesterday I tried this one called Divine Cream which is a facial cream that I really liked. I liked it so much that I thought I might buy some. Just went to Amazon and 1.7 ounces costs $123 -- and that's on Amazon.

Guess I won't be using Divine Cream.

Most Depressing Email of The Day

Somehow word has gotten to the spammers that I'm no spring chicken. I continually get walk-in bathtub spams, those things you sit on and ride around if you can't walk spams, social security benefit scams --- all reminding me my golden years are calling.

But this is too much. Just got an email with the subject line:

Look for affordable burial insurance

I'm not ready to go yet, folks!

While I snoozed...

I believe Mary got up at 5:30 this morning. She was rewarded with this sight which she has called
"Sunrise on the Schuylkill" -- that's the river she'll paddle on today.

She's ever cheerful at that ungodly hour and writes:

It's going to be a great day for dragon boat racing

 

 

What about those Mummers?

Before this morning if someone asked me about Mummers, I would say that it is a men's group that dresses up in funny costumes and has a parade. I would also guess that they do some charitable work as part of being members of this group.

Mary sent me this photo as she is in Philadelphia this weekend:

I looked up Mummers on Wikipedia and their own website, and their history is very complicated -- Being a Mummer goes back to the 17th century -- part of it is a Swedish tradition which somehow got melded with African-Americans as part of plantation life. What's odd is that even though it's African-American tradition, Mummers are almost exclusively white. In fact, they used to do black face, but no more.

I really hunted for any charity work -- like some Mummers hospital somewhere, but if there is, I couldn't find it. The entire purpose seems to be the yearly parade and dressing up like clowns.

What a can of worms -- I wanted to make sure I was being fair and went further into Google. It seems some bad Mummers have poisoned the waters with a local sex scandal two years ago involving prostitutes. Plus the parade seems to involve lots of alcohol with locals along the parade route complaining of drunks peeing in their yards. (I can appreciate this complaint based on my own experience with my neighborhood being the end point of the St Patrick's Day parade.) Mummers respond by talking about their charity work which seems mostly to be entertaining at hospitals and that sort of thing.

Another argument raging is who should pay for the police presence and other city expenses incurred by the parade. It's an interesting debate.

Happy Birthday, Michelle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Taste Test

I'd skip the pumpkin spice coffee. Tried it yesterday and drunk black it tastes like coffee that's been run through a bowl of potpourri. The man who gave me the k-cups said he thinks I might like it better with milk. So I added milk and it tastes like coffee with milk that's been run through a bowl of potpourri.

I like spice; I like gingerbread. I love pumpkin pie. I even like the smell of spice potpourri. I noticed on my trip that McDonald's had pumpkin spice milkshakes -- and that didn't appeal to me either. So my vote is thumbs down on pumpkin spice coffee.

Nostalgic Photos

My friend from kindergarten days sent me a collection of nostalgic photos -- one of those groups that make the rounds with "Do you remember this??"

Here are the ones that resonate with me:

I remember what a treat ... now I can't remember the name of this -- I was going to say Jolly Time,
but that's not it. I know: Jiffy Pop. Loved it along with the steam burn I always got opening it.



I remember asking my father to pull the lever back
when I was too little to do it.

It took me a second or two to figure out what this was -- but
it's caps... and my sister and I would hit them with a rock to
make them go off. I'm sure it was very safe... I remember
enjoying that gunsmoke smell.

To this day, I miss Woolworth's! I still have a decorative
flower pot in my garden from Woolworth's. We had a big one a
few blocks from here and I've never gotten over its closing.

I know to some people this photo would be like looking at women
with bustles and long dresses, but this doesn't seem that
long ago to me.

This is just a pleasant memory. Remember when you discovered some
cool song on the B side of a hit record?

I was thinking on vacation how weird it is to not have film, or to
buy film or flashbulbs. It seems so odd to think how long we'd wait to
get our photos developed! And then share them by buying doubles.

Of all of them, this brings back the most memories. I think I had this exact model.
I also remember in college Mary going to sleep with the dryer going on her rolled hair.
And remember that the air intake was a nail dryer??

We had a milkman, and my memory is having to take the milk in quickly
in the summer months, and if you didn't, it would sour. And if you
didn't take it in quickly enough in the winter, the milk would
freeze and the glass bottles would break. I also just remembered you'd
put the clean empty bottles back in the milkbox.