It's so nice to have a (handy) man around the house

A friend had richly recommended this dependable, economical, dependable, neat, dependable, sweeps up after himself, dependable handyman and urged me to hire him. Which I did. I had a half dozen little things ranging from cracked floor tiles in my kitchen to a broken shower head to a bathroom vanity that was loose from the wall.

Nothing falling down around my ears, but definitely items that called for attention.

He is all that was promised to me, and another friend suggested I take full advantage of him before he is snatched up. Which I have now done. (In fact, he told me today that in addition to his full time job as a porter in a building, he has been hired to work as a super in a building all Sundays during the summer.) Today he fixed a few more things -- I didn't have anything totally broken -- so there were so many little jobs that just went undone week after week, month after month.

Now as things are getting fixed, I realize how much psychic energy these problems took from me -- like a slow leak out of a beachball. My bathroom vanity was loose from the wall so it moved everytime I bumped it or leaned on it and now it is fixed and rock solid... but every time the vanity moved, pssssst...there goes some air from my psychic beach ball... psssst...bad girl, you should get this fixed, you haven't... I have a terrible scold who lives in my head whom I've unsucessfully tried to evict for years. I've quieted her down somewhat but she still offers her negative opinion all times of day and night.

So now I'm thinking when all these things are fixed and my scold is quieted, I am imagining I'll have way more energy. My psychic beach ball will be bouncing down Easy Street!

And now I'm reading...

I had never heard of this case, but it has come into my life in the past few weeks. I was reading (and now I can't remember why) Wikipedia about Bella Abzug and learned that as a young labor lawyer, she went to Mississippi in 1945 to help defend this man.

Then a friend of mine told me of a book he had bought his son full of diverse heroes and Bella Abzug was one of them. He asked if I had known of her, mentioned the Willie McGee case, and I said yes, I have.

Bella was a congressperson from NYC in the early 70s. She was a co-author of the Freedom of Information Act and oraganized the first world congress on breast cancer. A early feminist, she was the target of much ridicule because she wasn't "pretty" in the traditional sense... she was loud and spoke her mind and her nickname was Battling Bella.

One of her signature pieces was she would wear hats, often with flowers on them.

One day back during that time I was at some cookout at a colleague's home in the suburbs and it was outside and I was wearing a straw hat with flowers on it, and this one wife, who really was a witch, looking down her nose at the "working girls" from her lofty perch as someone's wife said to me, "Oh Pat, you look just like Bella Abzug."

I knew it was meant to hurt, but she was such a jerk, it didn't. I said, "Thank you. To be compared to Bella Abzug in any way is a great compliment to me." In other words, F you. And I meant it.

Years later, she was running for something else and was campaigning at my subway stop at 86th Street and there was a line of people who wanted to meet her, and I stood in line. I remember it was winter and I took off my gloves to shake her hand. She really was an amazing woman.

So fast forward, and now I am reading this book. The first night she arrived in Mississippi, the hotel would not honor her reservation, nor would any other hotel in town so she spent the first night sitting in a bathroom stall in the bus station because of threats from the Klan. Who wouldn't want to be compared to someone that brave?

Hot town, Summer in the City

It was hot, hot, hot today and it reminded me of the first time I came into this apartment which has been my home for 20+ years. It was a July day -- even hotter than today, over 100 degrees. I had walked a couple blocks from where I was living and was sweaty when I arrived.

When I walked in, the air conditioned air hit me and it was dark and cool and felt almost like a cave. I've always loved that feeling. There's a movie theater near me where you go down an escalator and the theater is underground, and I always like going there on a really hot day for the same reason. Dark and cool.

I remember as a young girl going to caves on summer vacations and how fascinating it was to me that it could be hot and sunny and then in a few minutes, usually down a walk or down a flight of steps into the cave where nature provided air conditioning.

Beware what you ask...

There's a florist in my neighborhood with a friendly helper who I often stop and talk to as I did last night. It reminded me of the time, after I had known him for a while, we were standing outside the store in the bright sun and for the first time I noticed this huge scar that ran just about ear to ear... I ran my finger on it and said as a joke, "What is this? Somebody try to slit your throat?" and he replied, "Yes."

Ok, so my eyes must have bugged out a bit -- Nosy me, but he added, "I used to live a different life." You would never know it by talking to him today... I don't know if I even realized that a slit throat is a real thing, but I can tell you it leaves a hell of a scar.

Mmmm-Mmmmmm Guinea Pig!!

My manicurist is from Venezuela and in my appointment last week she had told me about how much she loves to cook and how she and another woman from Peru were going to do some catering. So we were talking about all the specialities... and when I got back to my computer, I had a notice from the place where I make microloans that my loanee in Peru was doing fine with her guinea pig business.

I have to say I don't remember funding that enterprise, but I started wondering if the little fellows were pets or dinner. I simultaneously wrote my manicurist and my friend Meredith who has lived all over the world and posed the question. Here are the responses:

Marianella from Venezuela writes: I asked my family and the answer is "both" they eat them, but they are also pets, but just a special kind that has long hair, I know in Ecuador are very popular as a meal, but I didn't know is the same in Peru...they call them "cui" ... I can't imaging having one of them as a dinner neither, they look like hamsters but bigger :( jajaja

I believe jajaja is Venezuelan for Yuck.

Then Meredith chimed in with: Oh yeah, they definitely eat guinea pig in Peru. I understand it's very much a standard meal there. I've never been to Peru, but a friend was just there and found guinea pig so ubiquitous that she decided to try one. She said it didn't taste bad, but the worst part was that they roast them whole, so she could still see all the little teeth on the skeletal head. Yuck!

I believe yuck is American for jajaja.

My New Book

Now I have just started a book called My Name is Mary Sutter and it's a novel about a woman who is a midwife, the daughter of a midwife, in 1860 and she wants to be a doctor, but she can't get into any medical school and no doctor will train her. I believe she ends up going to Washington DC to learn medical skills with wounded Civil War soldiers. I've read two chapters so far and really enjoy it.

The Animal In Us

I just took one of those silly online quizzes that I saw on television -- it's called "the animal in you" and tells you what kind of animal you'd be. The quiz took 30 seconds to answer.

I hestitated on some of it -- like "assertiveness" and you're given four choices and I know there are people who would say I'm the strongest one because I can be, but I chose the middle one of "generally assertive; compromises easily" -- I do compromise easily, only because most of the time I really don't care.

Anyway, I came out as a bison! As I read the description, I have to say it was fairly accurate. It said I was "deceptively intelligent" -- what does that mean? I'm not as dumb as I look? But I know people who think I'm quite bright are surprised often by my choice (dumb) of tv shows, or even that I watch tv!

So go and take the quiz -- maybe you'll do better than a bison -- but then a bison is "strong shouldered" and so am I.

Oh, and Al Gore is a bison too! So I feel I'm in good company.