Flashback.....

While at Starbucks and looking at the CD display, I saw a compilation CD of old songs and recognized one by Rosemary Clooney - Come On-A My House. It was playing on the radio during one of our yearly trips back to Minnesota and caused quite an arguement between mother and dad. Mother was singing along with the radio and dad was quite upset about her singing that "hussy" song. I didn't know then what a hussy was but figured it probably wasn't too bad because mother kept singing.

We kids enjoyed the trips but they were hard on our parents - four (eventually five) kids in the back seat, squirming all over the place and asking every hour or so, "aren't we there yet?" We four (eventually five) had our space staked out and it was war if someone got too close or, heaven forbid, touched us. Being susceptible to car sickness I was often allowed to sit in the front. It didn't take me long to know how to use that - a feeble, "I don't feel so well" got me moved up quickly to the front. Mother frantically told dad to pull over and stop because she thought I might urp in the car - can you imagine traveling 2k miles in a car that's been urped in? No, and neither could she.

One man's trash, another man's treasure?

When my mother gave me this picture of myself taken when I was three, my aunt told her to, "throw away that ugly frame, just give her the picture." But mother said she liked the frame and ignored her sister. Some months later my aunt gave me a lovely silver frame and told me to put this picture in it and throw away "that tacky thing." Obviously I listen and take suggestions as well as my mother did. ;-)

The frame doesn't "go" with anything but I couldn't bear to throw it away. I was three when the picture was taken and figure the frame is about my age. No sense in getting rid of things just because they're old, right? I do wonder where mother bought the frame though.

Red Letter Day

Let's go shopping!

Red letter day - a day which will always be remembered because of something especially good that happened on it.

Today was a definite red letter day. This morning before going to the office DH and I went to Panera's for an early cup of coffee. Not the usual way we start our day but lots of fun. Sitting across from me he said how nice my hair looked. He's pretty generous with his compliments so that was sweet but not unusual. Then he broke out of the box with this: "You know, you've really got it going on." Say what??? That is not my husband of a kazillion years - he doesn't talk like that. But how wonderful that we two old folks can still think the other is a hottie. Yep, definitely a red letter day!

Now that song, "Stacy's mom, has got it going on" is my new earworm!

Meow - and not in a good way!

My Samantha who is.......................... not the least bit catty! Good girl, Sam
Let me start first by saying I’ve never seen a Barbara Walters interview or watched The View. I don’t have an opinion of her one way or the other. In fact, most of what I know about her has been from old Saturday Night Live parodies - remember Barbara WaWa? I think her recent book has made news primarily because of her revelation of a long-ago affair with a then-married Senator which was tres tacky on her part: first for having the affair and second for writing about it.

Caitlin Flanagan reviews her book, “Audition” in the June issue of The Atlantic and her review has "meow" written all over it. The first paragraph of the review says this about Ms. Walters: "Too often, a tiny nut-brown hand waves vaguely in the air....." Tiny nut-brown hand???? Is that a reference to her age? With a little luck the reviewer may live long enough to have a “nut-brown hand” – tiny or otherwise. Not everything that happens with aging is beautiful – sorry.

How about this one? "Barbara Walters did not earn exclusive interviews with some of the most important international figures of her heyday by revealing to them a deep intellectual engagement with foreign and domestic policy. Nor did she do it by deploying pulchritude – minus the lighting and makeup, she has always looked like the love child of Madeleine Albright and Spiro Agnes." Isn't Ms. Flanagan clever? That rates a double "meow."

Am I being too sensitive? Some of the remarks in this review seem like personal attacks rather than a focus on the book. I was always taught that if you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything. Oh, wait - that would mean you would attack the book on its merits. In my opinion that makes for a more fair review of what a book review should be – a review of the book, not the author's looks. "Meow"

Happy Birthday Sister!

My Mickey - I couldn't pronounce Camille so it came out Ca-Mickey - the nickname Mickey stuck and that is how some of our relatives still refer to her. Sisters
BFF
A colleague’s 39 year old son died of cancer a little over a week ago and his death so close to my sister’s birthday has left me feeling pretty sad.

My sister Camille passed away three years ago this July 1st and today is her birthday – she would be 64. From May 25th until June 5th we were the same age which was especially fun when we were kids because it always puzzled our friends who knew we weren’t twins - so how come we were the same age? Mother said that she was told you couldn’t get pregnant as long as you were nursing – surprise!

My sister was one of the most determined people I’ve ever known – if she wanted to learn, do or be something, nothing could stop her. The only thing she couldn’t overcome was MS but she put up one heck of a fight. She had the worst type of MS – one that progressively worsened over the years. She faithfully used a machine that exercised her legs to keep them as healthy as possible in case a cure was found. She wanted to be able to walk again.

Right up until the end her long-term memory was excellent but not her short-term memory. I remember recalling with her some of the funny things we did as kids and some of the mischief we got into. Almost completely paralyzed and sitting in her wheelchair her eyes danced with laughter as she said, “I was such a little stinker, wasn’t I?” She wasn’t but she was almost always in constant motion when younger as if to somehow make up for all the days she’d be in a wheelchair.

She was very religious and prayed for healing but never lost her faith when it didn’t happen. The most important things to her were her faith and loving family. Her husband was her primary caregiver and because of him she was able to stay at home until she passed away. And her children and grandchildren gave her so much happiness. It’s a joy to see how much her oldest granddaughter resembles her – the circle of life.

I always thought we’d grow old together and be two old ladies sharing memories. Selfishly I feel cheated but MS cheated her and her family too. In my head I know she’s better off and no longer suffering but in my heart I just plain miss her. Happy birthday sister!

Bumper Stickers

I've read that if you're selling your home, red, pink, yellow, and even white roses are okay but if you've got orange roses - replace them. For some reasons orange roses are a big no-no to potential buyers. I like them anyway.I often see bumper stickers that say: I'm A Proud Parent of My Honor Student at (Insert-Name-of-School-Here)

Then anti-bumper stickers began showing up: My Kid Beat Up Your Honor Student.

Today in the rear window of an obviously proud parent was the following:

Proud Parent of:

#1 - serving proudly in the military
#2 - *A* student - ROTC
#3 - *A* student - Honor Society
#4 - *-* student - skateboarder
#5 - *A* student - cub scout

I wondered if child #4's "A" somehow got wiped off or if he (or she) isn't quite the student his (or her) siblings are.

Where there's smoke.......

Mt. Baldy

The heat is rising, wind increasing and there is a fire on Mt Baldy. So far 300 acres have burned and it is zero percent contained. The area that is burning hasn’t had a forest fire since the mid 70’s so there is lots of vegetation to fuel the fire. I hope a fire this early in the year doesn't portend a record year for forest fires.

Family

Redlands - the roses were beautiful, the grounds perfectly manicured." They're painting the roses red," said Alice.
I was invited to visit the Redlands Family History Center by a neighbor who is LDS. At the Center, genealogical research can be done on one’s family – whether or not one is LDS. My family history is a little convoluted since I know very little about my birth dad and only marginally more about the man who was dad. I have more information about my mother’s side of the family so that’s where I started.

A woman working there handed me a packet of information about how to get started and helped me begin my research on their computers. My mother’s dad was born in Norway and came to this country via Canada so I wasn’t sure how much we’d be able to find but Leslie started checking US Census data from the county in Minnesota where they lived and voila – listed on the 1910 Census was info re my mother’s parents and her two older siblings. Eventually there were nine children in her family. On one form they listed my mother as "Charlotte" – Aurlette must have sounded like Charlotte to the census taker.

I looked into my dad’s family name and pulled up information on his brothers and sisters – all of them now dead. It was sobering to see all of them listed with their birth dates and dates of death. I don’t think they changed the family name when they came to this country so that should help in the research. That and I think I have a cousin who may have already done some of this work – though we’re not really related I think she will share what she knows.

Re my birth dad: It turned out that when he died, he didn’t live that far from where we live.

Has anyone else done genealogical research? Leslie said it was one of the more popular hobbies. The LDS website www.familysearch.org provides info on how to get started and also has free family history software that can be downloaded.

Yum!

When the boys were here we had dinner every evening at just about the same time and we all ate at the table together. It was family time and a good way to get caught up on everyone's day. Now that they're gone we're breaking the self-imposed rules. So what did we have for dinner tonight? Pie. Not for dessert. For dinner. Pie. It was fun - fresh coffee and pie. If we get hungry later (it was pie but we didn't stuff ourselves!)we will eat something sensible later. Our walk on the wild side. See what passes for wild and crazy at our ages?

I stopped at Pier One on the way home today and now I want to get rid of all our furniture and start over. They have such fun, colorful stuff. DH is going to meet me there after work this week and I'll see if he likes some of the things as much as I do. As long as we're painting and making changes, why not new furniture?

More

Patio Tomatoes Swiss ChardDH is now growing patio tomatoes, two different types of roma tomatoes, two different types of beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers, swiss chard, rhubarb, Thompson grapes, Red Flame grapes and a dozen different herbs. He wasn't able to do much gardening last year and is more than making up for it now. It seems like a lot of work to me but is a form of relaxation for him.

The boys came over for dinner this evening. We enjoy their company and it is one way we can help out when DD is working late. DH loves to barbecue for an appreciate audience and teenagers can put food away better than anyone!

One more item re the Moving Wall and Vietnam: We have a friend who was a captain in VN and he and another buddy were the only ones who survived in his platoon. They came under intense fire and he and his buddy went to higher ground to radio for air cover. The troops fought hard but were overrun and by the time air cover arrived it was too late – even their medic was killed. Their names are on the Wall.

Moving Wall

A panel of the Moving Wall More panels, more names.
58,228 names.
A remembrance to MIA/POW's - Missing Man Table
Map of Vietnam
We visited the Moving Wall in Fontana this weekend, the replica of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial and it was a very emotional experience. There are 74 panels and a total of 58,228 names on the wall. Fifty-eight thousand, two hundred and twenty-eight and every one of them loved and missed.

You can’t help but think about our current war-conflict-police-action-nation-building or whatever they’re calling it now and wonder how many names will end up on the next memorial. We’re already five years into this: 4,071 American have died, nearly 30,000 wounded and we’re still counting. I remember commentators joking about how Bush would FedEx WMD’s in if none were found – I don’t think anyone is laughing now.

Holy Smokes!

Our geraniums bloom all year long.Today DD told us she has finally made the decision to stop smoking. Good news! DH was especially concerned about her smoking since his surgeon told him his own cancer was "100% caused by smoking." He talked to DD and told her he didn’t want her to go through the same thing - bladder cancer is not exclusively a male problem. She listened politely but always said she wasn’t ready to quit. Today she is ready. And the source of her epiphany? She was lighting her cigarette with what she termed “one of those cheapie lighters” when a huge flame shot out of it, singed her hair and scorched her forehead. She said she doesn’t need to get the message again – that was a sign. Aunt Lena always said there isn’t anything so bad that something good doesn’t come out of it. Yep.

Our Carriers

USS Enterprise - we were apx 2+ miles from it when we crossed its wake in our boat while we lived in Seattle. We climbed up a wall of water, dropped down the trough and then climbed up another wall of water. Our son locked himself in the head and said he wasn't going to come out until the boat stopped rocking. It was quite a ride!Has anyone else been watching the 10 hour, 5 episode PBS mini-series, “Carrier?” It is a documentary of life aboard the USS Nimitz during its 2005 six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf. It has been absolutely riveting, beginning with their departure from Coronado, California; tonight the series ends with their return.

Along the way we’ve seen sailors young and old share their points of view – all the way from heavy bitching to those that plan on making the military their career and just about everything in between. Male and female, young and old, they seem to be able to give their opinions honestly and openly.

Last night’s episode featured night-time landing on the carrier during rough seas – made me nervous just watching it. The photography has been incredible and they’ve put a lot of thought into the eclectic music accompanying each episode. Absolutely wonderful! If you haven’t been watching, look for it in reruns – definitely worth seeing.