The Wild Ride

During my years as a newly wed teenager and living in a place without friends or family, I would be thrilled over anything. One day my ancient landlady (she was probably in her 70’s, but ancient to me) asked me if I would like to go on a little jaunt with her. Her brother and his wife lived in a neighboring town by the name of Tieton.

She was going to spend the day visiting with them. I jumped at the opportunity. She had an old one seated car with a rumble seat and it must have been 40 years old. One of the first cars ever made I am thinking.

When we reached the highway she put the pedal to the metal. It felt like we were going 90 miles an hour, but in that old car it was probably only going 50. I white knuckled it all the way because I thought we would go flying off the road any minute. She could hardly keep in on the road. I literally held my breath when we met another car. Will we ever reach Tieton I kept thinking.
I chewed my nails and prayed as I watched the fence post flying by.

I was a timid soul back then and would never have asked her to slow it down. There is an old song with a line in the lyrics being, ‘Coming in on a wing and a prayer’.

We were coming in on one wheel and a prayer. Or so it felt. We finally landed in Tieton without landing instructions.  Her brother came out to greet her and looked at me  and says, “My dear, you are a brave soul to ride in a car with Mae driving.” I said (under my breath), “yes, I know and I didn’t bring a change of underwear.

We visited with her brother and wife. It’s been so long ago I have forgotten their names. I don’t remember much about the visit except worrying about the ride home. The return trip was exactly the same. I felt so blessed to be able to climb out of that car and I never climbed in it again.

Mae lived to be 100 years old. She lived her last few years in a nursing home, just a stones  throw from our home so my husband and I walked up to visit her.

I asked if she remembered me and told her we used to rent from her and she lifted her head and blinks her eyes a couple times and said, “Yes, I remember you. You're the one that left your husband and ran away with that truck driver”. My mouth fell open and I looked at my husband and said, “I didn’t run away with a truck driver.” I could tell he was about to crack up so we said our good-byes and left. She had already fallen back to sleep.

It Won't Be Long Now

Chloe,  get your diaper bag packed.
You are going on a trip.

I'm all dressed up and waiting for you.



I've been waiting for a long time.

I can't wait to meet my parents.

I can't wait to show you my new teeth.

Books and Babies

Just when I was thinking nothing exciting ever happens to me. I had two nice things happen. Number one nice thing is my Great Grand daughter that is being adopted by Cora and Jim is really going to happen. Very soon!!!
They have approval to go get her and now need to set up a date. They have named her Chloe and we will soon be seeing many pictures of her I am sure.

The second thing to happen is a long story. At least a year ago I received an email requesting permission to use one of my blog stories in a book they were writing. You know how that goes. Is this for real?
So I wasn’t positive it was on the up and up, but I did respond and wrote a few more lines in the story. They said I would receive a copy. I put it on the back burner of my mind, but I thought of it a few days ago and was thinking, “ I knew there wouldn’t be a book, I guess their pipe dream didn’t work out”.
Imagine my surprise when I went to the mailbox a day or two later and there was the book. This is not just any old book, this is a real book. The forward is by Baroness Margaret Thatcher.

It is filled with short stories of folks that are 80 or older. It’s about what their life was like as they grew up. It is so interesting because the stories are from England, Germany, France and the USA. Many of the stories are how it was with them during World War11. And my story is among them, I can’t believe it. Oh how I would love to sit down and have a chat with each of them. They played the same games I did and some games I have never heard of. Most were much closer to the war than I was. How lucky I was to be and American during the war. They had some serious scary events happen to them.

The book is called “8000 Years of Wisdom”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/8000-Years-Wisdom-Octogenarians-Lessons/dp/1907016538/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287069168&sr=1-1

The Sky is Falling

No problem, I was able to find a spot for the garbage can by the mailbox so I didn't have to play musical garbage cans after all. It was icy in front of my house, but I live a block from two schools and they get the sand trucks out in the school area's so it was fine driving.
I got another Vitamin B12 shot. I found out the reading on the blood test was -50. It should be at least 180. I hope these shots will end this problem for good. Some people need to take the shots the rest of their lives. That sounds like a long time, but at my age it may only be another week.

The adoption of the Great Grandchild from China is taking forever. I think the only thing left on this side of the pond is the travel approval. Do they only have one person working in that place or do they have stacks and stacks of adoption papers. Now they will take off for the Christmas holiday and maybe the whole week. Or it might snow and they would need to shut down the whole operation until it goes away.
I just reread this and I really am full of gloom and doom.
Cheers to everybody. Tomorrow is a new day and may your day be full of good news.

I ain't no Spring Chicken

Gloom, despair, and agony on me.
Deep dark depression excessive misery.
If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all.
Gloom, despair and agony on me.

Oh woe is me! Every Tuesday morning I need to go someplace. Doctor appointments. Every weekend mother nature dumps a ton of snow on the driveway. My super nice neighbor always shovels off the driveway for me. The problem is that the garbage man comes on Tuesday mornings. There is no place to set the garbage can except at the end of the driveway because there are banks of snow on either side of the driveway, and we are not supposed to set it in the street. I need to be sure the can is out there early because you never know for certain what time he will show up. So I need to get it out of the way so I can back the car out, and then put the can back in the driveway. And then get in the car and go get the shot and come home and park on the street and drag the empty can back into the garage. Hopefully the can will be emptied by now, if not I have to get the car in the garage and then drag the can back to the end of the driveway. The appointment is for shots to help get rid of my extreme fatigue. I get fatigued just thinking about it all. I have had one shot and it wore off after a couple days, but I guess that’s why I am going to have four of them. To top it all off, I am scared todeath of slipping on the ice and busting my backside.
This is a true story. I wish it wasn’t so true.

Merry Christmas

Back in era of the twenties there was a comic stripe named Barney Google. I wonder if that is how Google got their name. Now the word google means to look for something. At least in my mind that is what it means. I think they should think about putting the word in the dictionary.

It’s not in my dictionary. I look in my dictionary so much the pages are falling out. Maybe that page fell out. I guess I could put that item on my Christmas list. If it not too late I would like a new dictionary for Christmas.

I like the word ‘Christmas’ and use it as often as possible. We should not say ‘merry Christmas’ because we might step on somebody’s toes. I guess I’m a rebel because I go out of my way to say ‘Merry Christmas’.

Merry Christmas Everybody !!!!!

Bring Back the Tap Dancers

Whatever happened to tap dancing? People love watching “Dancing with the Stars”
Now it’s “Skating with the Stars”. I love the rhythm of music and watching the foot work of the Dancer or Skater keeping time with the music.
Count Basie once said,."If you play a tune and a person don't tap their feet, don't play the tune."

It seems to be a natural feeling in all of us to feel the urge to move with the sound. I sometimes like to watch something a little more soothing and calming on TV than the wild antics of some of the skaters and dancers. You can’t totally relax to the music if you’re constantly worried about the dancer throwing their partner out into the audience. Give us a break and tone it down a little. I mean why should they risk their lives just to entertain us.

Tap dancing is much safer for the viewer and the dancer. Not to mention how much more relaxing it is. I think it’s a fantastic skill. Does anybody remember Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly. Do you know that Tony Curtis could also cut a rug. That must be an expression from my former life.

Did you know in the early days the slave trade in America caused a lot of panic when it was discovered that Africans could communicate with each other from a far distance with the use of drums. The article I read said the Africans were not allowed to use drums in their religious ceremonies. That makes me stop and ponder a bit. How would that go over today? What right wing or left wing decided it was okay to step on their religious toes and interfere with how they worshiped. We came a long way, Baby.

Anyway all this beating rhythm has created a multitude of different dances.
The British clogging steps combined their footwork with the Irish and created a style called “buck and wing, which became tap dancing. I never see any of it on TV. Maybe it’s there and I haven’t found it yet.
Little kids used to take tap dancing lessons and they loved it. Now it seems to be that Ballet is all that I ever hear about. Am I the only one that likes tap dancing?

The Sky is Leaking White Flakes

It's a winter wonder land in Yakima. I have enjoyed watching it fall out of the sky. Now it can go away. Tuesday I have to drive in it because I have a doctor's appointment. I finally found the reason for my exhaustion. I am extremely low on vitamin B12. That's all I know about it so far. It must be like a car being low on gas or oil. They can still run, but if it runs completely out they stop dead in their tracks. I don't want to stop dead in my tracks so I will be there for the appointment. I will start a series of Vitamin B12 shots. Better than being exhausted. It sure took a long time to find the cause. I go to a doctor on a regular basis so why did it have to get so darn low.

Remember Pearl Harbor

Photography

Come on in and look around. I have nothing interesting to report or talk about except this very cool blog I ran across. If you like photography you may also enjoy this. I guess it has some gloom in it, but sometimes a little gloom is is not a bad thing.

http://magiclanternshowen.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-goes-up.html