Please, somebody stop me before I shop again! I am not a shopper at heart. I buy clothes when I need them, I have maybe 8 pair of shoes — 14 if you count sandals — and 4 handbags including an evening one for dress-up. There’s only one thing that makes my heart go pitty-pat. It’s dishes. Dang, I LOVE dishes! I have two sets of china and four sets of everyday dishes. I have a Beleek tea service of teapot, cups, saucers, creamer & sugar bowl stashed away and in the other cupboard the most beautiful gold and white coffee service of Royal Worcester that I never use — it’s up in a high cupboard where it won’t get bumped or broken and. One of these days, I’ll get it all down and start using it. I will. BUT, specifically, it’s wine glasses. Crystal ones. Yesterday I had some things… Read More »
I am not Responsible
It is a struggle, but I have come to understand that I am not responsible for finding homes for everything that crosses my path. Except the kittens who are born in my backyard, of course. I was responsible for them, but other things? Not so much. Many years ago a friend gave me a handful of hollyhock seeds. I had seen pictures of hollyhocks growing in front of Swiss chalets, so I didn’t expect them to grow in the desert, but they did! Not only grow, but thrive. They also re-seed themselves, and they are not discriminate about where they land, so they drift across the fences into the neighbors yards. This gives me a stunning wall of hollyhocks every spring and summer. A joyous display to gladden the heart. At the end of the season, when they are done blooming, I collect the excess seeds in baggies. In the beginning,… Read More »
Is it a poltergeist?
“Donald, have you seen my keys? I’ve looked everywhere and they are simply gone.” “Did you check your purse?” “Yes. They aren’t there.” “Then I don’t know what to tell you. I haven’t seen your keys,” my dad said. This occurred many years — decades — ago when I was in high school. The keys stayed lost for several days. It was not like my mother to lose things and during that time she was constantly on the alert — picking up things and putting them down again, occasionally muttering to herself, even checking unlikely places like the refrigerator and the linen closet. Of course, they couldn’t be there. And they weren’t. Then one day, mother said “Donald! Where did you find my keys?” Dad was nonplussed. “I haven’t seen your keys,” he told her. “Well here they are on my dressing table. I know I looked there. They couldn’t… Read More »
Let’s hear it for oysters!
Quick, what is the first thing you noticed about this ad? Me too! Whoever knew there were so many kinds of oysters? If I’d known there were such a thing as Plymouth Rock Oysters, I would have tracked some down a few years back when we had our family reunion in the town of Plimoth. Over the years I’ve become quite fond of oysters — on the half-shell, fried, in stew and even an oyster po boy. So there is a company that actually delivers them here to Las Vegas fresh every day? Yowzer! Do you suppose they make home deliveries? Do you suppose I’d want to order a gross of oysters (144)? Probably not. But really, I thought oysters were oysters, pure and simple, although I’ve heard of blue point oysters, but it’s not that simple. There are Great South Bay blue points and Long Island Sound blue points.… Read More »
Holy cats, Batman — it’s SPAM!
Yes, it’s here — Spam. Spam for you and for me. I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten Spam, although I know a lot of people love it. But nobody loves the kind that shows up on your computer. I was whining about the stuff I get to Diane, my friend and fellow-blogger from Oregon (http://www.postcardfromtheroad.com). She is actually a photographer who writes compelling stories with beautiful pictures about her road trips in the Northwest. I swear, one of these days I’m going there just to see if it’s really as fascinating as she makes it look — but I digress. After she listened to me whine for awhile, she said, “Why don’t you do a blog about it?” Good idea. So I’ve been looking at the variety of stuff that lands in my spam folder. I try to check every few days in case something legit ends up there,… Read More »
Walmart Warning
Am I the only person in this country who needs a Walmart Warning regarding shopping the day before school? For most of the people I know, Walmart is the store of last resort as it was for me today. You know that if you can’t find it anywhere else, it’s probably at Walmart. Right? I think? It never occurred to me that I might be entering a danger zone of screaming, crying little people. But I was on a mission. My house is getting new floors and the first night I was able to move back home, I discovered how dirty my new out-of-the-box floor planks were. I’d taken a damp rag and swiped at a streak that I hoped would come up. It did, but the rag also swept up a wide swath of grime. Oh my word! Before I could sleep, I swept and cleaned the floor with a… Read More »
The Joy of washing my hands
Think of all the things that bring you joy. Would that include washing your hands? I ask because this is one of the things I have missed this week — washing my hands, brushing my teeth, flushing the toilet — things I take SO for granted. But to back up, his is the THIRD go-around with water in my house. I mean, water where it’s not supposed to be. About two years ago I awoke to soggy floors and discovered the water heater was leaking. Why the builders put the water heater in the house instead of the garage I don’t know, but they did. So I got a new water heater and five days after that, I got new floor. That was New Floor #1. Six months ago I walked into the guest room and stepped in a puddle. I called the plumber who advised me to call the… Read More »
The $50 sunflowers
Don’t you just love sunflowers? Doesn’t everybody? And as for mine, I don’t know for a fact that the sunflowers have cost me $50 — it might be more; I’m hoping it’s less. I’ll find out next month when I get the water bill. I’ve wanted to plant sunflowers ever since I saw them in a neighbor’s yard a few years back, but I always forget until it’s too late. But not this year! Sometime in March I actually remembered and went to the nursery. Problem is, I haven’t bought seeds for years. They used to be 39¢, then they went up to 79¢. Of course, that was in the 90s. How about $2.59? For a packet of seeds. SEEDS. Not a pot of flowers, just a little envelope with seeds. Okay, okay, I know — I’m still living in the last century. Anyway … I came home and planted… Read More »
Gotta get organized
For weeks I’ve been telling myself I gotta get organized. Then, just a couple of hours ago I was rummaging in my closet for my white jeans. They had to be here somewhere. “Why don’t you organize that closet?” the smart side of my brain asks. I don’t know if it’s the right side or the left side. It’s the practical side that always asks the right questions. “Why don’t you shut up?” I ask, shunting another hanger aside. I’m hot and I’m tired and in no mood for snark. “Hey, if you like wasting time doing that every day, that’s okay with me. If you’re happy, I’m happy.” “Okay, fine!” I snarl and toss a handful of clothes on the bed. “I’ll organize the damn thing.” I grab another stack of clothes and throw them after the first lot. After a few more tosses, I notice the stack of clothes… Read More »
There oughta be a law
MURPHY’S LAW Okay, we all know Murphy’s Law, right? There are all kinds of laws — federal, state, criminal, civil, traffic laws, laws of physics, and many more. There are laws of etiquette (we call them rules which sounds much nicer) and ones we call “laws of nature,” and “laws of the universe.” Murphy’s Law is perhaps the best known of these. You know, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” There is an addendum: “… and usually at the worst time.” Nobody writes or codifies these laws, but we all know them and whether or not we like it, they play a big part in our lives. You may not know the name of this one, but you surely have experienced it: “any falling object will land in a way to do the most damage.” It’s called the “Buttered Side Down Theory.” Now here’s one we all encounter on… Read More »
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