And Sometimes Silliness Ensues…..

This year Thanksgiving with my family was the best. We drove down to my cousin Claudia's farm in southern Indiana. She and her husband, Rob, raised their family there….along with cows, chickens, dogs and cats. They even had a peacock and a parrot for awhile and who knows what else. There is a frog pond, lots of turtles and some REALLY big black snakes on the property. (Keep in mind that this is my cousin who grew up in a Chicago bungalow on the South Side - on a lot that was probably about 50' x 100'. And now she has a huge garden, gets fresh eggs from her hens and I've seen her chase a herd of huge black cattle out of her vegetable garden by flapping a dishtowel and yelling "Shooooo cow!")

Anyway - twenty of us gathered for this very traditional Thanksgiving complete with turkey, corn pudding, cranberry sauce, potatoes, stuffing, green beans four kinds of pies etc. etc. etc.  The serving table was "groaning" as were we after enjoying the feast. Four cousins from Colorado, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Claudia and Rob have hosted this gathering for years - and Dave and I are lucky when we are able to make the trip. As the family grows, the house seems to s-t-r-e-t-c-h to accommodate more and more of us - and Rob and Claudia welcome all of us with open arms. (This year we brought our own bedroom…we slept in our little RV!) The fun began as we gathered on Tuesday evening with more family members driving down on Wednesday.

But the silliness really started when Claudia's daughter, son-in-law, sister-in-law and who knows who else was involved (after several glasses of wine) decided to decorate the place with goggly eyeballs! Not sure where this idea came from….but they may have just started a whole new Thanksgiving family tradition. I came in from the RV, opened the refrigerator on Wednesday morning and found silliness staring back at me.

Honestly there were eyeballs everywhere! Staring at you from the bathroom mirror, stuck onto family photographs, sitting on bananas and tomatoes.

Our family group always enjoys this holiday together - but somehow, this year was even more special than usual. And I think the eyeballs had something to do with it.

:-)

Watts to Ferguson.........Sad Repetitons

I was a psychology major in college......no real plan for after graduation, but I found the whole field of psychology to be very interesting. And I figured maybe I could use the information learned to figure out my one-day husband and kids.

And I do remember that I wrote a term paper for one class, when I was a junior, about the riots that took place in Watts in 1965. I don't remember anything much about the paper, or even what caused that event in the first place. I remember doing research, reading articles and being sad/fascinated and writing a long paper. I also remember, being raised in a lilly-white upper class suburb outside Chicago, having a difficult time wrapping my head around the black/white divide. The distance between the haves and have-nots just seemed so very "foreign" and wrong to me.

How do you move forward if you have no hope? How do you focus on a good education for your children when no one in your family, for generations, have ever had the advantage of a highschool, never mind college diploma? How do you parent successfully when you have no roll models to demonstrate good parenting? How do you find meaningful and well-paid work.....when there are no opportunities?

I have a good friend from highschool who lives in Ferguson. She and her husband have lived there and worked in the community for years. They love their home, they love their neighbors and friends and community associates. They are Ferguson Proud.....Ferguson Strong and now, I know, Ferguson Sad.

Watts in 1995.....Ferguson 2014....with so many other sad examples in between. Thanksgiving is tomorrow.....many of us will it around tables groaning with bounty. Thankful for what we have. America the beautiful, America the Land of opportunity, America where people are free......equal. America where sometimes, maybe often, sad history repeats itself.

Strange Birthday "Cards"…..

Snail mail is nice right now - birthday cards arriving! It is fun to open, read and re-connect with friends and family who put stamps and address on the envelope and sent the colorful cards off to me.

And Facebook is fun - friends on my timeline are sending good wishes. Also a nice way to celebrate my day!

But Princess Cruise Line??? Ok….I understand. We are booking a cruise to Alaska for our whole family next summer. To do so I had to enter names, birthdates etc., etc., etc. So today I got a special electronic birthday card from the folks at Princess. You click on it and a big cartoon cruise ship cruises from port to port and I think it is saying "Happy Birthday" in lots of different languages. Then at the end there is a personal written note suggesting I enjoy my day.

Ummmm…..can you say MARKETING? I somehow know I will be getting an annual birthday card from my new friend, Princess Cruises, for the rest of my life. Even if I never book another cruise.

Oh well…..good wishes…..I'm happy to accept them from any source….I guess.

Traditions…..

I don't like to cook - and I certainly don't like to bake. Can't remember the last time I made any kind of cookies/cake/pie. Dave always said my brownies could be used as paving stones. OK….OK…. everyone has unique talents. Kitchen-related-anything is NOT one of mine.

I do make dinner for us most evenings and I do enjoy having people over for an easy meal. I have some delicious go-to-recipes that never fail. So it's not like I never cook….I just choose to do as little as possible.

Except for my mother's lemon bars. Those are in the oven. We leave tomorrow for Thanksgiving at my Cousin Claudia's farm….so the lemon bars are in the oven. I can smell the lovely citrus scent from the TV room. I can sense the memories flooding back.

My mom always made her famous lemon bars for her friends at a PEO meeting or church circle gathering. She made them for us when we'd visit from out-of-town. She made a pan to bring along for holiday gatherings. Lemon bars = Beth Clark = good times = delicious = love.

When mom died a few years ago it was my sister's idea to print out her recipe on happy yellow paper and have one at each place setting when we gathered for lunch after the memorial service at church.  She and her daughter baked pans of them to be served that day. It was amazing how many of the people attending came up to us to say: "These are just the way I remembered! They are wonderful!"

And as Susan wrote in the recipe, "If your batch is a little tart, that's perfect. Mom didn't like them too sweet."

Mine probably don't exactly equal my mom's - but still…..they are baking and the scent fills our condo. 2009 was the last Thanksgiving mom was at Claudia's and she brought them - this time it's on me.

Happy to do it, happy to remember.

:-)

Friendship - Redux……

Somewhere in my reading history I found the following quote: "True friendship takes us by the hand and reminds us we are not alone in the journey."

I just spend a few days with four true friends. We all met each other in 1964 at Ripon College, joined Alpha Xi Delta sorority as members of the pledge class of 1965. I'm not sure Alpha Xi is still on the campus, or even around as a national sorority - but there are six of us who are possibly closer friends now than we were at the time.

We re-connected at our college reunion in 1994 - had such a wonderful time that we decided we have to do this again! And so began an almost annual gathering - at each other's homes or in places where one friend had time-share opportunities….for me it's my annual "therapy" weekend….necessary for my mental health!

We women, now all retired, are very different. We share some life experiences….but each also have unique families, histories and stories to share. Maybe that's part of what makes the reunions so very special. We fly to the gatherings from Florida or North Carolina. Drive from Chicago or Wisconsin - depending on the plans for the year. This time I was the hostess and we rented a three-bedroom B & B in Hales Corners. Sadly one member could not attend….and the rule is, if you MISS a year, we TALK about you! :-)

Arriving on Tuesday afternoon the conversations and laughter begins, the wine flows, the memories come flooding back - we finish each other's sentences. And, no matter where we are, we explore. The art museum in West Bend, our new condo in Port Washington, the ladies bathroom on the 23rd floor of the Pfister Hotel! We had coffee and conversation for several hours in the Pfister lobby bar, a delicious dinner at a restaurant in the Third Ward and attended one hysterical play at The Chamber Theater.

We spent some time on a "craft" activity - always another cause for laughter and togetherness with various degrees of creativity.

We spent one evening discussing everything from health issues (why does this topic begin to take up more time at every gathering!?), politics and religion, the state of the world, our kids, our grandkids….an A to Z kind of thoughtful evening's discussion.

Next year is Chicago - not sure of the date yet…..but I will be there. I don't want to miss it…and I don't want them talking about ME!

So here's to my college friends - Susie, Judy, Linda and Diane - Donna we missed you!

Not Quite Connected......

My grandparents lived in Antioch, Illinois while I was growing up. They had a small house on Voltz Lake and we spent many family Sundays up there. They had a big wooden telephone mounted on the wall…..it was a party line and if a specific ring tone sounded that meant the call was for them. When you heard "their" ring, you picked up the black ear piece, held it to your ear and stood at the phone to talk into the black mouth piece. (Other ring combinations meant the call was for another families on the party line….and we were not supposed to pick up or listen!) And certainly long distance calls were quick and usually meant some kind of emergency.

Now look at today……a personal cell phone attached to everyone's ear…..including mine! I like my cell phone, it's handy and keeps me connected through conversation or by a quick text. But I also don't really "miss" living without it once in awhile.....if I miss a call, I miss a call.

So maybe that's why today it wasn't until about 6:00 in the evening that I realized I had not even seen my phone all day. Where was it? Had anyone been trying to reach me? I asked Dave to dial my number and we heard a quiet ring echoing from the family room. It went to voice mail and stopped ringing...so he dialed again while we searched. A quiet, far-away kind of ring......ahhhh....there is was. Folded up in the hide-a-bed! I was sitting on it much of the day.....no real problem.....no missed calls.

No one even knew I wasn't connected!

One More Time - Hello Out There!

I started this blog in January - just because I enjoy writing and had the time to try it. In February, after only a few posts I noticed that I had a handful of international "followers" and wondered about that!

Today, just for fun, I checked all my "stats". At this point I've had 73 visits from Turkey, 65 from Poland, 52 from Germany, 51 from the Ukraine, 21 from Russia, 19 from Romania and 11 from China. And a grand total of 1692 visits from friends in the US. I also know a friend in Japan checks in once in a while - but for some reason she did not make the list.

No one leaves comments so I don't have any idea who all of these over-the-pond readers are. I do wonder how they stumbled on my little ramblings and if some visit frequently or it was just a one-time-accident kind of thing. How did they "find" me???

Well anyway - hello world!

Who Are You and Why Are You on MY Path??

We take Fenway for a walk every day - except when it's raining because if it is he refuses to leave the building's lobby.

Sometimes we walk along the marina or out around Rotary or Coal Dock Park. Other times we trek to the library or post office. Sometimes we walk up the hill to the park on the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan. It depends on our mood, the weather and any errands we might need to do along the way.

Mostly we walk up the bike path. It's a nice paved path with plenty of good bushes and trees and grasses full of interesting-to-a-dog smells. Other people and pets to pass along the way. And if it's windy the trees offer some protection even though the leaves are down now. Some times we walk the mile up to the community gardens and come back home by reversing direction.

Sometimes we travel about 1/3 of the way to the gardens and cross over the stream on the new bridge the city installed recently. That way we can come home through some woods and then an open field with new things to smell and new bushes to "claim" with that last drop of Fenway pee.

Aside from other dogs Fenway eagerly looks for squirrels, or a rabbit that races ahead and disappears in the underbrush. Earlier in the year we would see chipmunks.

Now we spot something much bigger….almost every day.  This new possible "friend" makes Fenway stop in his tracks and strain against the leash. You can almost hear him saying "Oh please just let me go! I know I can catch this one!"

It seems we have a mini-herd of deer just outside our door. We find them along the path, and in Veteran's Park and crossing the road. Fun to watch - and this fall we've spotted two bucks.

So Fenway thinks he's ready to make some new friends - we think not.

A Change In Weekend Plans…..

Well we were supposed to have friends over for dinner tonight and there is a movie we hoped to see on Sunday.

But I am "enjoying" the Mother of all head colds complete with "productive" cough - yuch. Dave has a photo he took at the zoo - a lion sleeping.

I guess I'll just follow his lead and go back to bed. At least I have a good book to read - if I can stay awake.

Crap.

It's Just A Different Day….

When you are lucky enough to live on or near a body of water the view is ever changing. Sun, wind, clouds, ripples, waves, foam, colors….every time you look at it, the water looks new and different.

Our condo has a small deck overlooking Lake Michigan - and we never forget how lucky we are to be able to just walk to the window and watch the water. Maybe we have a special appreciation for it after living aboard our sailboat for two years. Every night, at anchor, we were surrounded by water….and it was beautiful. We never tired of watching the water.

About a week ago we had a storm with winds clocking from the north east with gusts up to 50 mph. The force of the wind did amazing things to "our" lake….and during the day hundreds of people came to watch. We drove around our little town to get views from all directions. Lake Michigan was furious.

Yesterday it was sunny and almost warm. Fenway and I went for our morning walk along the harbor. It's quiet and kind of "sad" now - all the boat slips are empty for the winter. There won't be much activity in the marina until spring.

And just look at the difference a few days can make…..or a few hours. Lake Michigan was soft and peaceful.

It just never gets old.

But I'm Helping……

This morning has been set aside so that I could work on a small quilt. Nothing else on the calendar and I'm feeling sort of "cold-y" so working at the sewing machine is a perfect thing to do. Kleenex box at my side, cup of juice on the counter.

I'd been busy creating for about 90 minutes when I felt a little nudge on my leg. Ahhh….time to go for a walk.

So Fenway and I put on our sweaters, grab the mail and walk over to the post office, down around Rotary Park and across the parking lot to walk along the water front. It wasn't the longest walk in the world, but a nice one. And Fenway got to anoint dozens of trees and bushes.

Back in the condo I put a load in the dryer, started a CD playing and sat back down at the machine. Five minutes later - nudge.  He's baaaaaack! When I didn't respond I "felt" something - he was sitting behind me….staring.

I can't help it - he makes me laugh…..so I pull my chair back from the sewing table and right away he's in my lap. I can almost "hear" him thinking…."If I sit here and stare at her, she'll talk to me and stop whatever this other thing is."

As you can see, if Fenway is in my lap, there is no way to do anything with the quilt. So he gets a few minutes conversation and tummy scratching.

Then it's back to the floor - sigh…….