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Decorated

Funny

My iron stopped heating.  Incidents of burning myself were greatly reduced, but lack of heat is not a desirable feature in a clothes iron so I purchased a new one. Like most irons it has a number of settings -- delicate, normal (cotton) and maximum (  jeans ). A setting for jeans!!  That made me laugh out loud and also announce to my new iron that no one irons jeans.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving Day filled with family, fun and food. And most of all -- Peace.

A Break Through

I took a step toward conquering my dread fear of all things electrical.  A small step. I have been helping my friend Ginnie move/downsize.  She was getting rid of this lamp.  It didn't work, but it could be fixed.  She thought my son might like it for his new place. It's a Scatchard Pottery lamp.  I thought maybe I wanted it for the spare room once Kevin moves out! I made a trip to the Home Depot nearby and purchased a new bulb socket.  I found a number of how-to videos on You Tube.  I picked one that seemed very clear and worked as I watched, pausing where needed. Success!  I plugged the lamp in and gingerly turned it on.  I saw light!  No crackling, no sparks, no massive shock setting me on my bum!  Damn, I was proud of myself. For $4 and an investment of less than an hour (including watching videos, but not running to the store) I have a really nice Vermont lamp.

Shocking

This past week I noticed that the night light in the convenience half-bath downstairs was out. Hmm, I thought to myself, time to change that bulb. Of course, I didn't get around to it right away, but the next day I was going to dry my hair and the hair dryer remained silent. Then I noticed that the little light on the electric toothbrush charger was out. I plugged the hair dryer into the outlet by the second sink.  Nothing.  I took it downstairs and again, nothing.  Every other plug and switch seemed to be working.  What other explanation could there be?  The bathroom wiring was shot, the wires were frayed and disintegrating, about to cause a major fire. Have I ever mentioned the fact that I have an irrational fear of electricity?  I swear I was killed by lightning in a previous life. After several minutes of panic, I thought to check the circuit breaker box. Everything looked okay. I saw the new outlets in the kitchen which all had GFCI buttons.  The bathroom outlets had

Artist

We went to the Ringling Museum of Art on Monday. The next day we were in the pool and a woman asked about what we were doing and I mentioned the trip to the art museum.  She looked at my grandson and commented "Well, THAT must have been boring!" In fact, not at all.  Both of the kids were very much attentive and appreciative, very much enjoying the experience and making serious observations.  I would not have taken them if I thought it would be otherwise. My grandson continues to paint when he is not in the pool or the Gulf.  The trip actually had the influence of turning his effort toward human figure. (after statue of David) (after Asian art exhibit) This is amazing to me because a year ago he could not hold a pencil in his hand.

Summer Vacation

So many kids are heading back to school already, but my grandchildren are enjoying two weeks vacation on the Florida beaches. The water temperature is about body temperature...no inching myself in like in the lake.  And the kids, especially Dane, are in the water like a flash but it seems it is the wet that lures them, not the temperature.  Warm or cool, water is water. We went to the North Jetty Beach in Nokomis after dinner at a seafood restaurant the other night.  The children ordered a hamburger and chicken fingers, which kind of defeated the purpose (but I keep trying, without success to expand their palates, so that means I am insane).  It was too early  for the sunset -- seniors and children go for the early bird specials. But I did get a photo of the sunset when we got home. Thunderstorms happen most evenings. We went back for swimming the next day and we saw a mama manatee with a calf!  They came very close to the shore where we were swimming.  

Great!

Make America Great Again! You know, like it was when the country was founded on equality for all.  All property owning, white Protestant males, that is.  Do you doubt that is exactly what is meant by that slogan? I wonder of native Americans are thumping their heads and thinking, "We shoulda built a wall!!!"

Changing things up

I have no idea why Blogger no longer updates my posts on reading lists out there adjust writing a post seems to be a trial these days, what with the cursor disappearing at random times and the key board seeming to lock up in a willy-nilly kind of way. But it was an excuse for me to just start a new blog with a slightly different focus.  It is here  and also posts to my Facebook page.

Strawberry Season

It's strawberry season in Vermont. Such a brief time frame, but oh those delicious, sweet strawberries! My friend Donna called me this morning and asked if I wanted to go strawberry picking with her.  She had heard it was a good year.  Big berries fill up the boxes faster. Now to the task of cleaning and freezing.  Mostly they will be used for smoothies, one of my go-to lunches.  But I will have to maybe find a recipe for a strawberry daiquiri too.

Educational Activity

VT State Capital Building Guarded by a statue of Ethan Allen My grandson visited for a week as soon as school let out for the summer. We got to go swimming, do some painting, watch some movies, go out for lunch with my sister and my friend, Donna.  Dane likes to walk around downtown Burlington...it can be entertaining. When Dane asked me to toss an empty ginger ale plastic bottle around in the back yard,  I thought maybe time to go out and buy a ball.  Then we had lots of soccer and volley ball skills practice sessions.  The kids in the neighborhood are mostly toddlers so I got to get lots of fresh air and exercise.  Dane called me his BFEV(best friend, elder version. ) Of course there was a lot of story telling.  Even though he started out saying that he was maybe getting too old for my "Adventures of Dane" stories, he willingly listened.  He has started writing his own stories, too, so I feel as though I had some good influence there! There did hav

Budding Artist

School has let out for the summer.  My grandson has arrived for a week long visit and getting spoiled by grandma time. Today we painted. Dane has been watching Bob Ross on Netflix. I think he has learned a lot.

Home Work

Yard Work You might think it is spring time in Vermont from looking out the window.  Rhododendron coming to bloom Peonies thinking about blooming In fact it is more like the dead of winter from the perspective of a Florida snowbird.  Cold and cloudy and very windy.   Most of my neighbors have air conditioner units sprouting from their windows.  We did have unseasonable hot weather last week, but nothing that tempted me to wrestle with one of those window units. Kitchen Work The woman I bought the condo from had put a lot of work into the place -- new windows and large patio door, new flooring throughout, all freshly painted, updated bath and half bath, all new appliances including a gas fireplace insert (which I fired up yesterday, in  June !)  I am really happy with it. However, I did decide to treat myself to new kitchen countertops. The old laminate was worn and I know from watching HGTV house hunters that stainless steel appliances and granite

Donut Day

I am not usually up and out first thing in the morning, but I set my alarm this morning because I was taking my friend, Ginnie, to an eye doctor appointment after her first cataract surgery. I knew from experience that making coffee and then going about my routine would result in my losing track of time -- something that is not at all helpful around doctor appointments -- even though technically I had plenty of time. I got dressed and decided to stop at the Dunkin' Donut shop which was on my way to Ginnie's house. Little did I realize that today is National Donut Day.   I noticed how full the parking lot right in front of the shop was, but the penny still didn't drop.  C'mon, no coffee in my system yet. Unfortunately, I didn't see how congested the drive through line was until too late.  I was already hemmed into that line.  And cars kept pouring in.  My thought was what are they giving out free donuts today?  Come to find out, yes, that is exactly what th

Blooming

Within days of my return, the lilacs came out and have been scenting the air at my back door. Three weeks is about their max and they are quickly fading now. But peonies that were barely visible three weeks ago are getting ready for their show in June.

The Joy of a Clean Oven

Are you ready for this?  Because this will seriously change your life! Oh, no wait.  This is just a sign that I spend far too much time browsing household tips on Pinterest.  If every little tip promising to change my life actually did, I would certainly not even recognize myself in the mirror each morning. I wouldn't be able to cope with that. As it is, I am often startled beyond words to look in the bathroom mirror and see my mother staring back at me.  I have to turn around quick to see if she is there. By the way, my favorite are the pins that pop up  on my home feed--Secrets of People Whose Houses are Always Clean.  Can you guess the secret? DUH...they clean every day.  I think that even an intractable horder knows that deep down inside.  None of which is what I set out to share this morning. When I got back from Florida there were two big blobs of black carbony gunk on the floor of the oven.   I can't blame Kevin as he uses the oven solely for baking

Yet another failure of our public schools?

We are not taught classes on character qualities and ideals, love and relationships, or even conscious communication in our school systems, miserably at relationships and marriage so it's no wonder why we fail so miserably at relationships and marriage.  --Bess O'Connor, Ayurvedic and Holistic Health Practitioner This quote just made me angry when I read it.  It only lasted for about thirty seconds, but I can get my gorge to rise again just by looking at it. Really are we to assume that the only place anyone learns anything, especially about life in the real world, is in school? Maybe the article had something useful to say, but I was too prejudiced by this bit in the introduction that I struggled to keep an open mind. I guess I still have work to do on acceptance and a non-judgemental attitude.

Watching Grace and Frankie

I didn't exactly binge watch the second season of Grace and Frankie on Netflix.  I spaced it out, savoring each episode.  Still, I am in withdrawal. If you have not seen it, it stars Jane Fonda as Grace and Lily Tomlin as Frankie. Their husbands of forty years were partners in a law firm, and apparently, partners in another sense as well.  When same sex marriage is legalized in California, the husbands confess to an on-going affair with each other and announce that they are seeking divorces so that they can finally marry and share a life together. Grace and Frankie are devastated.  Although they were never close, never had anything in common, they end up living together and trying to adjust to lives they had never planned on living. I really love the show.  This season dealt with infidelity, unexpected illness, assisted suicide, sex and dating in one's seventies, an adopted child seeking out his birth mother, substance use and abuse, and just the stuff of life and family

Life in VT

Well, I am "home."  I have spent a week looking for my stuff.  I accused my son of hiding everything on me, but I do know that I just had to relearn where I put things.  I only spent six weeks in the new condo before leaving for the winter--which, yes, really does extend into May here in VT sometimes. I went outside without my winter jacket for the first time today. I worked on some May birthday cards: Watercolor by moi. Punch and die In spite of the fact that I have been shivering for a week, it does look like spring around here.  The crab apple trees are lovely. I am not sure what this is but the blooms are pretty, like cherry blossoms. I was missing my herb garden so I bought a planter for the deck and filled it. And I cannot believe that my calendar jottings are going into June already!

Why I Practice Yoga

I still walk for exercise and (when in Florida) ride my bike, but lately my exercise of choice is yoga. That is certainly not because I am so flexible that I can twist and bend and stand on my head.  I started taking yoga exactly because my muscles are tight and inflexible.  Slowly, I do notice changes.  I am a little more flexible now. For me, the biggest benefit has been just being more aware of my body and how it moves through space.  I think about standing tall and keeping my head up.  My posture is better.  My breathing is deeper.  My balance--well, not perfect, but I do recover if I trip instead of falling.  I don't have significant aches and pains. I have tried different types of yoga.  Some types are physically challenging and others are very calming, relaxing, and restorative.  I have found that I really like the tranquil feeling after practicing.  There is a good balance between the physical and mental--has to be good for body and mind. And I do love the trappin

Dream Breakthrough!

A recurring dream is one in which I am wandering a huge college campus either knowing I do not have enough time to get to the class in the first place, but being beset with obstacles along the way, not knowing the location of the location of the class, arriving at the classroom only to find the class has been moved somewhere else. It is always a math class.  I am always worried that never being able to find the class will result in a big, fat F on my grade report. Classic fear of failure dream.  Not exactly a nightmare, but unsettling nonetheless. Well, the other night, I dreamed that I actually got to the math class and met the professor who agreed that he would give me another chance.  Then I sat down and all the students were working on very simple math problems. with apologies to math teachers everywhere **** For the record, I did very well in high school math classes.  The only math I took in college was statistics, once as undergraduate and once as

Fun with Grandkids

My daughter had a room to paint--a new tenant moving into one of her apartments.  She needed some kid free time to do that and I needed a grandchildren fix. Isn't it great how these things work out? I took the drive down.  It was a lovely spring day in Vermont.  I love that tender new green and all the spring blossoms--lots of tulips and crab apples in bloom. Also the ubiquitous dandelion. I took the kids out to lunch at Applebee's.  We went to the movie theater and watched The Jungle Book.  I loved it!  My tender hearted grandson said it was a lot of violence, but he knew all along the boy would be okay because it was a movie and that's how they work. After the movie we took a drive to Killington and saw that there are still people skiing. On the way home, we stopped and played a round of mini golf.  I don't have pictures because I tend to concentrate on the kids and forget about documentation for later.  (A characteristic my former special educatio

Morning Coffee

As a rule, I drink two cups of coffee in the morning. Gone are the days when I drank coffee all day and even had a cup after dinner--and never decaf.  When I was a working mom, the sleep deprivation made it kind of necessary in order to function.  These days, if I had a cup of coffee after lunch, I would be awake all night. But I do like my morning coffee.  Now I mix regular and decaf.  I can't quite seem to kick caffeine entirely. Wednesday morning there was no milk, no white stuff of any kind.  Thursday morning my sone left a note on the coffee maker--carafe was cracked.  Desperate times! I was not able to find a replacement carafe.  At least I was not able to dedicate my entire day to finding one.  So I bought a Mr. Coffee--a little five cup one for around 15 dollars.  I was thinking that I never drink more than two cups so why not. What I forgot about is that the manufacturers of coffee makers definition of a cup is, at best, half of what any normal coffee drinker wou

Air Travel

You get what you pay for.  So true about so many things. You take the cheap air fares, you might as well know you are going to be on the flying equivalent of a third world bus. Still, there are some bargains.  When I went to book a return flight from Florida to Vermont, the first thing I did was look at JetBlue.  They have fairly comfortable planes and the big draw for me is that they have flights from Sarasota to Bulington with only one stop in NYC.  But the available flights for early May were three times what I paid for the trip south. I looked at Delta and they had an available package for a much more reasonable price.  And their planes are comfortable as well.  I booked with Delta.  The only problem was that there were layovers in Atlanta and then again in LaGuardia. In truth I would rather have a longer layover than have to madly dash to catch a connection.  Or not catch a connection and then have to go through rescheduling and a long wait anyway. It was a long day.

Mothers' Day

I started my day with breakfast and then going to church, where the sermon was "Mothers and Other Mythological Creatures." I had the modern day communication with both my children--text messages.  I was happy to hear from them. I had a phone call from my sister who was having a train wreck of a day, entire weekend, I am not really sure exactly how long a time period.  I was saddened to hear the events that she must endure. Googled image I love this-- In honor of nurturer's everywhere. I went out to dinner with fourteen other people from the neighborhood.  I was the fifteenth wheel, but it didn't matter.  I stimulated a lot of conversation about who I could be fixed up with. (Maybe it is a good thing I am heading back north tomorrow. But I do have wonderful friends.) After dinner eleven of us went across the road to the beach to listen to the drum down and watch the sunset. Just another day in paradise. It seemed fitting. My take away

Dinner Guests and Wine

I cooked dinner for my friends Annamarie and Ken.  It was a most pleasant evening. Le menu: Appetizers: cheese and crackers, artichoke bruschetta on French bread Salad: tomato and avocado on Bibb lettuce with homemade citrus dressing Main: crab stuffed founder rolls with bread crumb topping, roasted sweet potato, and sugar snap peas. Dessert: lemon sorbet with raspberries and blueberries I bought a nice bottle of Pouilly-Fuisse because that is what I like with a fish dish, but I knew my guests prefer red wine.  The young man at the wine shop was very helpful.  He recommended a pinot noir, specifically one from Portland Wine Project--the Willamette Valley "being renowned for their pinot wines." It was excellent. The dinner stretched out for five hours.  I am taking that as a sign that it was all a success. They are so adorable.

The Leaving

It's beginning to feel a lot like Florida summer.  The humid heat hits full on as I step out the door, the comfort of my air conditioned home lulling me into forgetting that a late morning bike ride might not be the best way to exercise now. A friend told me yesterday that she had heard the weather for Burlington, VT. Temperatures in the fifties were expected. I know that that means people were pouring outside in shorts and tees to glory in the spring breezes.  I will carry my sweater on the plane when I head back next Tuesday. I am in the process of saying good-bye to friends and neighbors here--InStride volunteers, poetry group members, people from the yoga classes I have been taking, and people I have met from church.  My next door neighbor, Gayle, left this morning.  As I ride my bike around I see more and more places closed up.  Seems like every day for the last two weeks are taken up with saying good-bye, stay well, see you next season. I have made my list--all the litt

Showers

I always assume that shiny metal looking parts are actually made of metal. That, of course is a totally unwarranted assumption on my part. One day a while ago I was taking a shower when the hand held shower hear went sailing to the floor of the shower stall. Looks like a sturdy metal...but it's plastic and had cracked enough to no longer hold the shower head. Kay at Musings  recently posted about a new shower head that looked interesting. However, I opted for replacing the the part since it was much cheaper to go that way.  I am keeping the reference to the unit she mentions though. The new part (from Lowe's) is plastic.  I can only assume it will have a similar fate as the one I replaced.  But for now it is holding and it doesn't leak!