Confessions of a Grandma

Having recently had a birthday*, I have been reflecting on aging. My memorabilia precedes the '70s but otherwise I like the sentiment   My guess would be pretty darn old, Calvin. This is more rude than funny. Some things can just make you feel old. Like learning to use your new computer -- that makes me feel old and useless! The irony of it is: Might as well just embrace it! * 73 if you are curious

 The pandemic has kept me caught between my two worlds.  I am back in Vermont where life slowly but surely opening up and allowing for social interaction -- time with family and friends feels so sweet. On the otherhand, my Florida participation is a poetry group, a writing group, meditation group and Buddhist studies class have all continued. The magic of Zoom made this a possibility.  In fact the Vermont writing groups are continuing on Zoom. We gave up a rental space when in-person meetings were not an option and the workshops started attracting a country-wide level of participation. That's a lot of motivation to keep up a writing practice. Twice as much motivation when I think about it. There is a book launch for Cold Lake Anthology  this evening at a local coffee shop. One of my poems is published in it and several of us will be reading our work at the event. Although I have participated in public readings a number of times, this will be my first time presenting ...

 I started a quilt in April. The project stalled because I did not have access to a space suitable enough to assemble the "sandwich" in Florida. The community center where I would have gone for the nice long tables was closed due to the pandemic. Then of course there was the detached retina. My vision is not back to normal yet. If I have both eyes open, everything is wavy. It makes it very difficult to thread a needle or to sew a straight line. An eye patch straightens out things I know are supposed to be straight but does little for depth perception needed for needle threading. Have I ever mentioned my stubborn streak? I was determined to finish that quilt anyway. So I did.

We love strawberries. In fact, one of us REALLY loves strawberries. Vermont strawberry season is short and the berries tend to be smaller than those available almost year round from Florida and California and South America, but they sure are sweet. This year, like everything else, they are also quite expensive, but I am not going to cry poor mouth. I am going to enjoy as many fresh and local strawberry treats as I can. This is a recipe that made the rounds at a school where I worked many years ago. I have it in my recipe binder in a rather faded mimeograph page. Remember those days of workplace theft? STRAWBRRY PIE 1 pint to 1 quart of fresh strawberries, sliced 1 pre-baked pie shell 1/4 cup corn starch 1 3ounce box of strawberry Jello 1.5 cups of water Mix the ingredients (except for the berries) and cook on medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until it turns from milky red to clear red. Allow to cool. Put the berries into baked pie shell and pour cooled sauce over the berries. Refr...

 Vermont's unofficial start of summer is Memorial Day weekend, fairly dreary this year.  Monday and Tuesday of this past week the temperatures were in the 90's and humidity in the downright steamy range. Wednesday there was no humidity and the temperature only went into the 80's -- which meant there was not a heat wave since the weather people declared that would require three consecutive days in the 90's. This morning (Thursday) we woke up to a temperature in low 50's and immediately donned flannel shirts. Vermont summer! No matter the temperature, the summertime is beautiful. It is the Green Mountain State.

 I like shopping sometimes -- when I don't really need something specific because then it becomes a chore. Recently I have noticed some signs that my ten year old laptop is showing its age.  Maybe computers age on a dog kind of scale? Anyway Don has been encouraging me to get a new one.  This is the kind of shopping a really, really hate -- too many choices to even narrow down to something specific. Don was having trouble understanding my reluctance, "It's not like you can't afford a new laptop." But that is not my issue. It's too overwhelming a task in my mind. RAMs and gigabytes and speeds and too many numbers. Makes my brain hurt from the non-caring.  Don LOVES doing this kind of research and then hunting down the best available bargain. But he says, "I don't want to tell you what to do."  Generally, that is a good impulse but in this instance, "Please, please, please, do your research thing and tell me what to buy. This is what I am will...