Catching up..

Sometimes I think that the day to day routines that are a part of 'life' for me are not postable and/or interesting. And I put it off 'til tomorrow when maybe I will be more inspired. I see that a week has gone by and I am also not up to date reading many of my cyber friends' blogs. Mea Culpe!! Well, here are the main ideas without the supporting and descriptive details. [Once a language arts teacher...always the language teacher vocabulary!].

Amazing Gracie, who managed to become ill the day/night before I shuffled off to Buffalo, is back in the swing of things. She accompanied us to visit [Holy Communion] Helen in rehab who had a hip replacement. That dog of mine and Helen have a special bond unlike most other people. It is fun to watch the smiles on both faces. We brought her a goodie bag of jelly beans, bubbles, and a gift certificate for two weeks of Meals on Wheels delivered to her house starting on Monday. Gracie gave her a biscuit.
I had a couple of doctor visits, bloodwork, xrays...for a good time!! And now I have added physical therapy to my medical repertoire!! I thought a pinched nerve or knot in my shoulder blade was causing the random but frequent pins and needles electric massage that have been creeping up my shoulder and into my neck. . Evidently as it creeped upward to be a permanent pain in the neck [literally], I decided to maybe address the situation. And I'm now off to physical therapy twice a week to try to fix it or diminish it.

I have volunteered a bit. I've played some games of hearts, solitaire, and scrabble on the computer. And taken good care of Flo, of course...whose first words to me a couple of days ago were,

"Did you buy that tuxedo?"

She must have been dreaming!

Walk right in...sit right down...

On Wed., Feb 3rd, I wrote a blog: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall. It describes the difference in the way you see the world and the way the world sees you. Quite often, these are very different images.

On Thursday, my son and I went to see a matinee performance of the musical "Jersey Boys". As we entered the theater, I was struck by the ambiance...of the audience. This eager yet slow moving river of seniors was inching along in the 'slow but steady' gets you to your seat! As I looked around, I realized that I had never seen so many 'over 50 folks' gathered in one place. And then I immediately realized that I most likely looked like I was a card carrying member of this 'over the hill but still loving the singin' and dancin' shows'.
It was an "Aha" moment, for sure.

Seated and awaiting the dimming of the lights, Jer said,

" You're probably going to recognize all of these songs, aren't you Mom!!"

"Most likely...read off a few titles..."

"Oh What a Night"

And so I sang the first couple of lines for him. And also for these:

"Sherry...Big Girls Don't Cry...Walk Like A Man...My Eyes Adored You...Workin' My Way Back To You Babe...Can't Take My Eyes Off of You...C'Mon Marianne!!"

I leaned over and said, "Ya know, Jer, I'm going to really have to fight the urge to burst into song..."

And he smiled and agreed, "Yep, I know!"

I loved the show. Since Franki Valli, The Four Seasons, and I are all from NJ, it was easy to relate to the places mentioned in the dialogue. And I grew up singing their songs.

Totally new to me was the background stories of the struggles of group and the bumps along the road on their path way to being famous. There was laughter and sadness. And a sign in the lobby that the "Language used in the show was authentic NJ dialogue!!!"

Quite colorful at times.

The audience was definitely into it, and thrilled to hear those songs from the 60's and 70's.

It was a good time.

Buffalo to Jersey...

Boys! [ On Thursday]

I am getting all my ducks in a row...

So that I can shuffle off to Buffalo.

Gonna see another show with my son,

Then out to dinner for additional fun!!

My brother is coming from Jersey[!] on Thursday to help out with Mom.

Giving me necessary peace of mind while I am gone.

Can't wait to see my grandpup, too.

The possibilities are endless: Oh, the things we can do!

Whatever...

Well, another driving class has been wrapped up and there are 22 safer drivers on the road who are saving hundreds of dollars off their insurance over a 3 year span. People fascinate me. And generally, the class has quite a variety of personalities. There are always some smiling faces in the group and they make it fun. One 89 year old man and his wife were so friendly it was as if we had known each other for more than 2 days! A different couple who live a half hour away and it happens to be where my rheumatologist is located... gave me their phone number and told me to call them the next time I had an appointment and they would take me out to lunch! That's the good part.

And what is the bad part? That would be the paperwork and set up/clean up and return the room to its normal state. Kinda wears me out!
Over the weekend, some necessary electrical work was also wrapped up. My house is old enough that outlets were two pronged and not grounded. New wiring was installed, old stuff removed and replaced, and some additional outlets added. While it was a grand improvement, the domino effect had me moving whatever [furniture or stacks of unorganized books, bills, etc.] was blocking access for the work to be done. My right pointer finger knuckle joint is seriously annoyed. I am typing this without using it at all. It hurts to move it.

You could say it has taken its toll on me, and stuff still has to be put back. Maybe tomorrow...is another day.

And then there's Flo...It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for the past few days. She has gone from being Rip Van Winkle to Sweet Mom to Maxine to Forgetful Flo. This afternoon while she was talking with friends from NJ, Betty told her that she was going to be 90 in June. I prompted Mom to share that she will be 99 in November.

"I am not! I am 97 and will be 98!!" Last week she was okay with being 98. And just when she is at the height of forgetful, she can rattle off the name of MY orthopedic doctor who fixed my broken leg. And then, the classic moment of the weekend was when she looked right at me and said, "Would you like me to help you move the couch back against the wall?"

And she was serious.

And then there's my computer. For some unknown reason, the toolbars from both the top and bottom have disappeared. Don't know where they went, or why, or how to get them back again.

Maybe the volcano in Iceland is the reason for all this chaos. I can't come up with anything else to explain it all.

Later today...

Today is the second day of teaching an AARP Safe Driving class, and I will get my blogging act together very soon. Until then, I must finish up helping 22 more people get some added perspective on safe driving. Along with some added humor! And some snacking, too!

Be back later...more stories...more stuff!

Lies and Tiger ...who cares? ..Oh my!

Tiger Woods has been in the news for quite a while now. My initial reaction began with disbelief that he was in a car accident...never mind while in altered states followed by the subsequent parade of unbelievable liaisons. [I struggled for that noun.] While I could comment on a variety of 'hot topics' associated with the whole saga, I chose not to editorialize until ...now.

Tiger's Nike commercial was in my opinion...the ultimate example of 'chutzpa'. Give me a break. I found it to be surreal and creepy, disrespectful and twisted, and unnecessary yet calculated. Seriously, exactly what is he grasping for....?

Sympathy? Insight? Or Renewal? [of his commercial cash cow!!]

Now, so far, I hadn't been pushed to the edge with a need to comment. What did it?

While Tiger has been in control of everything [except the BARN DOOR], someone has trumped Tiger's seemingly foolproof plan of returning to his career at the 'tightly supervised' Masters Tournament and all the while being in charge of every aspect of security.

Imagine his surprise when he looked 'up' to the skies and saw this:

I am , in no way , applauding this skywriting as an appropriate or acceptable thing to do.

But I have to admit...I did get a chuckle out of it!!

I found it to be quite clever as an answer to Tiger's controlling forces...kinda like, "Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! It was like outsmarting The Wizard of Oz!!

And there you have it. My one and only editorial on Tiger!

Did you learn anything?

Laughter

"I'm Old!!"

That's what Flo [mom] will say at times, and then she adds,

"I'm an old bird!!"
These two Muppet Show Ol' Geezers were among my favorite characters watched every week years ago. What great entertainment that was! I can remember a skit where Fozzie Bear was playing the piano and answered a question in an unpredictable way. Jer and I burst into uncontrollable laughter that was so much fun. And the French chef was quite entertaining, too.

Some other comedies remembered fondly for the comedy...

The Bill Cosby Show

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

All in the Family

The Golden Girls

Cheers

The Bob Newhart Show[s]

And I have to add some shows that Jer and I loved to watch as he was growing up...

The Wonder Years

Alf

Perfect Strangers

Laughter is ...my favorite thing.

Help spread some laughter every day.

This is your mission...should you choose to accept it.

And by all means, share some good ideas.

Glinda's Believe It Or Not...

Today I encountered an amazing sight as I made a 'right-on red' turn at a traffic light. There across the road waiting for the light to turn green for them...was... a person on a bicycle!! It's got to be a first for me. I have talked until I was blue in the face as an elementary teacher and now as a safe driving instructor for AARP that bicyclists are supposed to follow the same rules as vehicles. I don't think I have ever seen a bicyclist stop at a stop sign or a traffic light. Immediately two things came to mind: first that I should buy a lottery ticket, and second...it reminded me of the bicycle safety movie that I showed to the kids in my first year of teaching in NJ.

It was at the end of the school year, and because the [original] school had burned down during a night in April, each classroom was bused to a neighboring school wherever an available room could be used as a classroom until June. June was always a difficult month even if you weren't the odd room from a different school.

Anyway, I was looking through the audio-visual catalog for a movie on bicycle safety. In the index, there were many choices...one of which was titled: "One Got Fat". I located the description which described the dozen key elements of bicycle safety that it addressed for primary level kids. I didn't preview it. It had a strange title but it was about bicycle safety...Right??

The movie projector [ what?] was cooperative in that I was able to thread the reel-to-reel [what?] without much difficulty [It didn't chew it up even once]. Lights out, and here we go.

It was a story about twelve kids who each packed a bagged lunch and then rode their bikes to the park for a picnic. There was spectacular sunshine, lots of smiling and laughing, and then quite the series of unfortunate events.

One kid immediately began doing stunts on his bike and crashed. They picked his lunchbag out of the twisted basket of his bike and stored it in someone else's basket. Then there were eleven.
Apparently there was a participant who had not had his bike checked out for safety features and his brakes failed. His lunch was picked up off of the ground, placed in the same basket as the first casualty's lunch was stored, and onward went the rest of the kids to the park. Now there were ten kids enroute to the picnic.
They met a friend walking along on the sidewalk, who asked them for a ride.

"Sure! Hop on the front of the handlebars and ride double with me."
Not able to control the bike with the added weight and distraction...Bam!! Then there were nine.

By this time, it was quite apparent that bicycle safety was shown by the many, varied, and unusual crashes that could happen and cause injury to both bike and boy!

One boy rode against the traffic. Eight.

One had no headlight and so was unseen riding through a tunnel.

And then there were seven.

Imagine my shock when one was listening to music through some earphones and was run over by a steamroller! Six.

No helmet to protect your brain...Five. Etc., etc., and so forth!

Are ya' scratching your head about the title? One Got Fat?

Well, only one kid made it to the park on that sunny day for the planned picnic, and he ate all twelve lunches!!

Did it get the point across to the kids about bicycle safety? Yes it did. Did they follow the twelve safety rules...maybe [not!].

And I previewed subsequent movies before showing them to the kids!!

No more surprises along those lines.