Acapella...Sing! Sing a song! Sing it loud! Sing it strong!!

As I watch the television finale of the 'The Sing Off', I am very impressed with the diversity of groups singing beautiful harmony unaccompanied by any musical instruments. And it brings back a college memory which was quite a unique experience. There was a yearly competition among all of the sororities and fraternities called 'Greek Sing'. Given a certain amount of time which I think was 10 minutes, every group created their best masterpiece which was scored by a point system for music, choreography, costumes, spirit, etc. You were granted more points when the presentation was sung unaccompanied by musical instruments..
So, we arranged a glorious patriotic medley of all of the Armed Forces' songs in three part harmony. We made our own red, white, and blue outfits, and practiced many, many hours on weekends in preparation for the big event. Led by our president Phyllis facing us, we were allowed three notes from a piano for the different groups 'to get their particular pitch'. As we faced the packed audience of fellow contestants, we were confident and smiling...ready to impress everyone. We had it solid! The hours of work put into this endeavor were about to take the winning trophy. Phyllis gave the nod to Angie who had taken piano lessons for years, who then walked to the piano and played three notes. plink, plink, plunk. And immediately, we who were facing the audience kept on smiling at Phyllis's frozen's face...of shock looking back at us. We all knew that they were NOT the correct notes. Oh my God!! It was unbelievable! Altos, sopranos,...everyone tried to summon their own note from memory. Phyllis's arms were raised, she gave us the 1-2-3-4...And we began.

"Off we go into the wild blue yonder...flying high ...

Well, it was a wild sound surely to secure last place for us. And then after about 20 seconds [of ' would the floor please just open up and swallow us up]...Phyllis gave us a signal to stop because she had made the executive decision to 'start over'. We would take penalty points for a 'false start', but...holy mackerel....it was the only way to proceed.

For the second time, the nod was given to Angie to go play the three notes designed to put everyone in tune. 'Come on Angie...you have the power...We know you can do it.

plink, plink, plink.

Our fearless leader's arms went up a second time, a great big smile lit up her face, and...1-2-3-4-

"Off we go into the wild blue yonder...It was as it should be... blended perfection! Wahoo!!!

Our second medley was a satire about college life where we changed the lyrics of pop songs to make jokes and highlight the fun and foibles of college life. The hundreds of the Greek organizations' members were now looking, listening, and howling at our creative spoof. We received a standing ovation- what an amazing sight and sound....certainly a much better feeling than the adrenalin rush of everyone singing in God knows what key...scale...whatever!!

We did not win the first place honor in the competition, but.....

We did win "The Spirit Trophy!!!"

And that was the 'pi-ece de resistance'.

I think that after a couple of days, we were mostly remembered for our dazzling performance, and our 'spirit'. As for the group of scared stiff performers about to break out a new sound never heard before....well,

We will recall the low point[of embarrassment] followed by the the high point[of the standing ovation from our competing peers'].

We will never forget it!!!

There's a lot to be said for 'spirit'!

Ring- ring-a -ling!

Today was my annual 'Red Kettle' event. The Retired Teachers' Association volunteers two people[at a time] for a two hour shift , and today it was at our local mall. It has become a yearly tradition to schedule a spot with 'Holy Communion Helen'[ my mom's nickname for her], and it is actually a good time. Helen and I taught together, and we both can be a bit entertaining without trying. After my first stint a couple of years ago where I froze while realizing that I had some difficulty standing for two hours, I got smarter. So now I bring my [turquoise] walker that doubles as a seat and have 'way more fun' sitting through the experience as we joke and talk and thank people for their donations. It was a pleasant surprise to see how many shoppers shared their change as well as paper money with The Salvation Army's cause. Maybe the economy has hit close to home, and people are willing to help out those who are in more dire straits. Some have no job, no health care, no reason to be particularly hopeful that better times are in their future... All the while listening to some [???] expressing that all they really need to do is to 'pull themselves up by their bootstraps' ! It's just not as easy as that.

On a lighter note, we decided to move inside the double doors because two hours seem much longer when you are in the wind and/or chilly outdoors. Helen took my bag of ' donated books' to the exact location in the mall that collects them all year long for a GIANT book fare in July. And when she came back...she acted surprised that there was a box of Gertrude Hawk Peanut Butter Smidgies in her hand!! They must have flown into her hands when she passed the store. Wahoo! I went to the Pepsi machine and got us each a drink. When did it go up to $1.25 for a soda??? Imagine the mixed message to our body...the best in chocolates [ a gazillion calories...actually 4 pieces were 245 calories] and a diet-Pepsi chaser. Helen was tossing the bell into the air and trying to catch it by the handle. To which I said, "Hey oh Science Guru!! There must be a scientific reason it isn't happening very often."

And she began explaining, " Actually, the bell's bottom is..."

"Huh? [I'm laughing] :You decide how to explain that the bell went sailing through the double doors!!!" Imagine the headline: Retired Teachers Shatter Mall Doors as they Red Kettle Sit!!

We had many, many laughs...quite often recalling the funnier experiences that we had as teammates over the years. It was a good two hours. And people put dollar bills in the Red Kettle! It has to make me think that maybe they were counting their blessings as they made a donation for those more in need of basic life help.

So when you pass those annoying [Helen] bell ringers, think of me [ not as heavy handed with my bell] and be a part of those who are helping others who could certainly use it!!

And the Gertrude Hawk chocolate...oh yeah...I would recommend it!! Mmm-mm!

Let's get together...yeah! yeah! yeah!

Just wanted to remind people that the current full moon is the first one of December, and the full moon on Dec 31 will be the second one within the same month....making it a 'blue moon.'

After visits from my BFF from high school, my brother, and my son within the span of a 'holiday' week, Flo and I have caught someone's cold. Her voice has dropped a couple of octaves and she sounds like Lauren Bacall! . And at 3 AM, as the full moon was shining into the bedroom's skylights and we were both awake, there we were again gazing at the full moon in the middle of the night. It was a beautiful thing!

Today was a planned shopping trip to my favorite store with three retired [teacher] friends. We have all known each other for 30+ years, and it was a grand time followed by a lots of conversation over lunch. Fun!! And since I didn't drive, it was all about chatting and observing the scenery. Again, fun!

I used to carpool with Mary, and we were both 'with child' at the same time. My 'due date' was June 20, and Mary's was July 13th[ I think]. After a hard day's work with the school kids, we stopped for an ice cream cone every day on the way home. Well, my son arrived at 12:57 AM on June 25 [ 5 days overdue], and Mary's son was born at 11 PM on June 25th [almost three weeks early!]. We were in the hospital at the same time, and our sons share the same birthday! Far out!!
Debbie and I team taught in the same school and grade, as well as struggled through graduate classes together nights, weekends, and summer times [while also teaching full time]. Lots of memories and stories there. And it was to Debbie's wedding... that was the very first outing that both Mary and I [and spouses] went to after our 'D Day'...that would be that 'delivery day' on June 25th!!

And Lora...We worked in the same building, and her older son is pretty close in age to mine[and Mary's]. Lora and I dealt with the same principals, school functions, and life. We are currently playing several Scrabble games online, and it sure is fun!! We are learning new words...our favorite being...'oot'!![ my word...but disbelieving Lora tracked down its meanings!]

So it was a very easy day. Four friends. .. Shopping. Eating. Laughing. And planning another adventure in January.

I must have repressed that moment!

There are many ways that one can be helpful while spending some time at Meals on Wheels. I have taken phone messages, labeled lunch bags, scooped vegetables into clients' trays on the food line, and accompanied a driver on a route when they needed extra people. One day, Tessie asked me to ride along with her on a route, and I agreed.
"Sure thing!"

"You can check out my new wheels as we deliver the meals."

So, off we went on that chilly day, chatting and bringing hot lunches to people anxiously awaiting their dinner. The car was great, and since it had been in her possession for just a couple of days, there were many mysteries...like all of the buttons and dials on the dashboard, etc.

Normal for central NY , the weather changed suddenly and it began to snow...hard! Good thing we were almost done. As I sat in the car while Tessie delivered the few remaining lunches, I looked up and noticed the sun roof.
My father used to tell us that, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop!"

What [??]possessed me to I slide the fabric cover back, I don't know. The incoming daylight did made the buttons more visible. Thinking [??] I would merely cause an momentary incline in the glass roof, I pushed a button...and...

Holy **it Sherlock!!! It was suddenly snowing inside ... as in... the car's interior!!

This was not good!!

It was snowing, and those individual little flakes when combined with other little flakes...made it an impossible situation !! Swatting at them wouldn't help, yet the adrenalin rush caused me to try anything. I had to do something. It was like the 'I Love Lucy Show' when those candies were zooming by at record pace!! I know exactly how she felt!

How difficult could it be to find the correct button that would put an end to this snow squall in the car?? The car that Tessie had only had for a couple of days!!!

At the exact moment that I saw her face appear as she made her way back to the car, and with me still frantically pushing buttons as the snow accumulated on the console, I heard...the wonderful sound of...mmmmmmmm. A motor...

The storm was over. Not a moment too soon.

When I explained what had happened in that eternity of time [40 seconds, maybe], there was the welcome sound of....laughter. One of those very funny moments in life, that I did not remember until today when it was brought back to my memory by the words,

"I have to drive a route. Ride along with me. You can find out which button on the car changes the clock and adjust the time back an hour for Daylight Savings Time. Do you remember the last time you explored 'them there buttons'?"

"Huh? What you talking about, Willis?"

Sounds of laughter. Revisited. For me, funnier in retrospect.

PS. The [clip art ]photo is quite an exaggerated version...it certainly had not reached that level... but - hey, can you imagine it?

A phone call returns me to grammar school. Part 1

Among the people in the 'friends' category, I have a special one from grammar school who keeps in touch with me by phone. When I moved to NY, getting together was intermittent at best. Sometimes years will pass and our paths don't happen to cross. Yet, whenever we do talk, it is like no time has passed, and that's rare in a friendship.

Kathy and I were in the same classroom from 1st grade through 8th grade by nature of the fact that we went to Catholic school and there was only one classroom of each grade! We were both chubby, and we were sometimes called by each other's name. We were also friends outside of school. The grammar school only went to 8th grade, and so it was that we parted 'classmate status' when we went to different high schools. Kathy went on to go to nursing school, and currently is a hospice nurse with an infectious, cackily laugh! Last night, we got to reminiscing about some of the 'nunsence' that left a lasting impression. There was Sister 5th Grade who went with us to 6th grade, and then Sister 7th Grade who moved up to 8th grade with us. Both of these nuns were a force to be dealt with! Kathy has more baggage from Sister 7th and 8th Grade who evidently hit her in a fit of rage. I don't doubt it, but I do recall my near-encounter with her. I sat directly behind Kathy[2nd row...seat#5], and we were preparing to take the high school entrance exam by doing some workbook pages that were review lessons. Sister[very thin with small, thick glasses which hid very beady eyes] told us,

" Now, do not turn the page back to see if you did it correctly."

Well, I must confess that I did look back a page...and the next thing I knew...down the aisle she flew with her rosary beads swinging from side to side and her habit[ankle-length clothing] airborne behind her. I thought I was going to die. My knees were weak, and I felt scared to death. As she approached the subject of her wrath, she...stopped...at the desk in front of mine[that would be Kathy's desk!!], and got right in her face screaming,

"I told you NOT to turn back and look!!"

I cannot tell you any more than that because when I realized that Kathy was the object of the fury...I just couldn't believe it...and all of my energy went back to things like...breathing and slowing the adrenalin rush cursing through my body!! Sorry Kathy...evidently we both turned the page back, but you got the heat. Whew!

Kathy reminded me that the time that she lost a book, Sister7+8 had everyone in the classroom look for it. When Kathy managed to find it...[and it was in her desk], the nun made Cathy stand up and say out loud, "I am a very stupid girl!"

And then there was the time that Kathy was publicly chastised for not knowing the difference between an adjective and an adverb. Little did we know that she was actually ahead of her time, 'cause I dare say that nowadays there are many people who don't know the difference!

We laughed a lot for about 50 minutes as we caught up on each other's lives and kids' lives.

I must share a story about me and Sister 5th and 6th grade that had quite the unexpected twist. I'll write about it in the next post. Stay tuned!

What the world needs now...

Yesterday, a most unusual surprise was mine, and I will try to relate the circumstances. Some parts are easy to understand, and yet the best part for me will be a mystery to many! You just won't understand it.

My good friend Diane, [aka GNSJ], arrived at 10:00 to take me out to celebrate my birthday. She had read in my blog that I like surprises, so she wouldn't tell me where we were going. As we walked down the ramp of the deck, Diane held out the car key and said: "Here! You drive. That's your surprise!!"

"Huh?"

She replied, "This is Ben's car [her son] and it is a stick shift. I know that you love to drive them!"

I cannot put into words the joy that immediately made my heart beat faster, and placed a huge smile upon my face. I love, love, love to drive a standard transmission car. I haven't owned one since college, and when I was ready to change cars for the last 3 times, the sensible part of me had to agree with the many people who voiced that I should get an automatic transmission. I have had many flares of arthritis over its 20 year span where my knees would not have been happy to work a clutch, brake, gas pedal, along the other joints responsible for the action required by both hands to change gears and steer. The left side of my brain [logic and order] won every time, as the right side of my brain [the free spirit] sighed and said, "Oh well. In the great big scheme of things, this is small stuff."

Wahoo! It's like riding a bike. I did not stall the car once!!

We went to Pumpkin Hill [farmhouse turned restaurant] and had lunch on the porch which faced beautiful countryside and Cayuga Lake. My shepard's pie was the best. Diane had Mediterranean soup and a tuna and cheddar pita. We both ordered decadent desserts and split them in half and shared with each other. It was delicious and fun and relaxing and special.

I thanked Diane, and when I asked her what she thought my best part was, without missing a beat answered, " You driving the stick shift car."

And that was the truth. I was so surprised. It was a gift that resulted from listening and caring.

So what the world needs now...is more kindness...

It's a rich and unique experience for everyone involved.

Thanks, Diane! I loved it!

Make someone happy...

Happy Birthday to 'Good Night Sweet Jesus' !! That is Flo's nickname for the music teacher where I used to teach. I have two friends with the same first name and so when listening to a story, Flo will ask, "Which one are you talking about?" and I will sing the answer, "Good Night Sweet Jesus." The story behind that?? The short version:

One of my mom's favorite songs is 'Let There Be Peace On Earth', and whenever she went to church, she would always be hoping that they would sing that song. The organist met me at church and she played it and I taped it onto a cassette for Flo to listen to whenever she wanted to hear it. Since the tape had 3 hours, I started filling it with her other favorites that I was aware of, and nonchalontally asked her if I missed any.

She said, "Good Night Sweet Jesus' is a long ago favorite, but you I haven't heard it in years." I tracked down a copy of the music, and as we went for communion, the organist started playing it. She poked me in the back and said, "That's Good Night Sweet Jesus!!!" Great fun!!

So, I added it to her tape via my very talented music teacher BFF with the trained and beautiful voice! And that is how she was renamed 'GNSJ!!'

O Happy Day, Birthday Girl!

It's a surprise!

The hockey season is over for this year, as the Penguins won The Stanley Cup last night. Hockey fans [my son included] are a special breed of people. And I was reminded of his father and what a huge hockey fan he was. So, on a Friday night I picked him up from work and said that we were going on a surprise trip. He had no idea that I had gotten tickets for The Rangers in Madison Square Garden. Half of the fun was watching him realize where we were going. And it was a great time, too. Likewise, when my son was about 10 years old, there was another surprise trip that was quite memorable.

Good friends, whose two kids were Jer's best friends, and my son and I got into the minivan and started driving out of town without telling the 3 kids where we were going. We told them it was a surprise, and all the way there it was a guessing game of excitement. We had gotten tickets to see David Copperfield and it was around the time when he made the motorcycle he rode onto the stage ...disappear!! It was so worth the trip watching their faces light up when they saw the marquis: "David Copperfield Tonight!! " It was a terrific show... 'How did he do that?' and Jer got his Copperfield poster signed by the Master of Illusion himself!!
Surprises [good ones] can be great fun. Have you had a similar experience...whether you were the surpriser or the surprised?

Speed it up!!

I've had a request from my friend, Steve, about my blog:

"So, when are you going to tell the story about the ski lift?"

To get to Steve's reference, I should tell about the two ski resort experiences prior to his favorite ski lift memory.

#1: When I was in my early 20's, a friend of my brother's was going skiing for the day and asked me to join him.

"I have never been skiing, and don't have any of the equipment/gear to go with you."

"No problem. You can rent all of the ski stuff, and it's easy to learn."

What the heck! [I thought] We went to the mountain[!!], rented the equipment, and bought a one day lift pass. As we are in motion on the way up, I asked, "When the lift stops, which way are we turning?"

"The lift doesn't stop; you ski off of it."

Well, of course you do...what was I thinking? Just because I had never skied didn't mean that disaster was looming at the top of the hill! [How stupid was I!!!]

It took me a while [3 hours] to get down the hill. I asked to ski at my own pace...learn how to stop without just sitting down, and wanted to be miserable all by myself. It was a very frustrating experience for half of the day, and the other half was better. I got the hang of it enough to enjoy the sport. But I think I vowed not to go again.

#2: I think that it was my last year in college that about 5 of my friends wanted to go to Hunter Mountain for the weekend. If I didn't want to ski, I could hang out in the ski lodge, meet people, etc. There were many activities going on that weekend. I had one problem to fix before going. Since I had just finished a course of antibiotics, I managed to get a yeast infection. In the 70's, you couldn't buy the over the counter appropriate medicine, but somehow I managed to get a Friday afternoon doctor appointment along with a prescription to make things right. As my friends picked me up, I told them that I needed to have this prescription filled to take with me.

Then I heard,"Let's get on the road and get the prescription filled when we get there." OK.

Can you guess what's coming next?? There was no drug store in Hunter Mountain.

What could possibly make things worse??...a blizzard so encompassing that we were snowed in the cabin and could not make our way anywhere! for anything! skiing, food, NOTHING !
And let me add that each bed was allotted one blanket. So, there I was...snowed into a cabin with 5 of my friends...freezing...with no where to go ...and the added joy of an untreated yeast infection! Probably this experience was the one where I learned to never, ever, ask the question, "What else could happen?" or "What could be worse than this?"

#3: ok...first time, I skied a bit, second time...snowed in and not able to even go to the ski lodge if I even wanted to ski. The third time...was at a ski/golf resort depending upon the season. About twenty of my fellow school colleagues were at 'Curriculum Camp' in the first week of July.

From Sunday at 4 PM until Friday at 4 PM, it was an intense educational experience that was very scheduled. As a matter of fact, we had a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon that was our only free time. You could go golfing [at this resort], shopping, whatever...and they fired up the chairlift for rides for anyone who wanted to go. The non golfers decided to go for a ride, and two by two, we got on the chairlift with some empty seats between us, probably to even things out I guess. It started out just fine. It was beautiful scenery, a beautiful day, and as we went up and then back down, we got to smile and wave to our friends. Pam and I [going up] shouted out to Steve and Dean [coming down] and Diane was right behind us. Kind of fun. And then, all of a sudden, the speed of the chairlift was noticeably faster. We were zipping along at a record pace and so was my heart rate! Evidently, Steve had given the 'Wizard of Oz' [the man behind the control window] the hand signal to...S P E E D I T U P ! And he did. And I was in altered states of fear! What, oh what, could possibly make this situation worse?? I did not voice that question, but we found out anyway. Suddenly, in the middle of the ascent to the top...the entire chairlift came to a sudden stop. Well, not exactly! You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that the chairs would swing in a 'back and forth...back and forth...' motion. Holy ****!

And then there was prayer on the mountain as my "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph " rang out and my eyes closed [to block out the scary sight of swaying mid-air].

I had exceeded my capacity for fun.

And Pam stood up at my retirement dinner and told everyone, "I didn't realize how religious Mare was until curriculum camp when her 'Jesus, Mary, and Joseph' echoed back from the mountainside."

And no, there will be no more ski lifts or skiing in my future.

So, there you have it. There were tears of laughter rolling down Steve's face. Uncontrollable laughter. Which, by the way, is one of my favorite things....uncontrollable laughter.

It doesn't get any better than that.

This one's for Chuck!

Physical Therapy is still a 'happening thing' in the process of exercising my right knee back to reality. I've gone from three visits a week to two visits a week, and the physical therapist is great. The time flies by as she gives a directive, and we chat the whole time that I am following her plan to rehabilitate my right knee. I was sharing with her that my brother had been up for the weekend and it had been a nice visit...except for my living room furniture. My couch and chair are recliners which are not the easiest chairs from which to stand up...out of the sitting position and up on your feet! As Paul likes to demonstrate in quite the theatrical way, "It's like trying to get out of a peach basket."

So, my 'PT' buddie offered an extra chair of hers, and if I wanted it, it was mine. Yesterday, as she walked in, she told me that her husband was on his way over with the chair on the pickup truck. As he put the chair through the door, and there was snow-white stuffing popping out of the top of the chair..she raised her voice a bit and asked,"What happened??"

"It fell off the back of the truck."

"Oh, great!" she says.

"It happened kind of fast. There was nothing I could do. Thank God there was not a car behind me."

In an effort to bring some levity into the situation, I reminised about the time that my good friend, Chuck, enlisted help in moving a piano to his house. At last, his wife was going to get a piano. It had always been on her wish list, and one day she encountered a situation where if she moved it, she could have it. The piano- moving posse of 4 strong men hoisted the prized piece of musical furniture onto the truck and set out on the 20 minute ride. All was going well until the curve ...which also happened to be an incline...and some scientific force took over, and just like a Laurel and Hardy moment...the piano flew off of the truck. Some very loud keyboard sounds hit the ground, and those were its last sounds. It broke up into many pieces. As did the four guys, I'm sure!!

Can you imagine the scenario that occurred when he arrived home[by himself...no need for the other three to witness the response to], "So, Where's the piano?"

"Back on Half Acre Road. It didn't make it up the curve."

"Are you serious???"

"I am sorry to say...affirmative!!"

"And grateful to be on a country road with no one behind me."

It became one of those stories that was funny in retrospect. At least that was what I said to the couple [on my porch] arguing about the chair that dove off the back of a truck.

Pointless to discuss it further...it wasn't going to bring it back....isn't that right, Chuck?

The odds against this were unbelievable!

Flo and I are sitting here on a rainy Saturday waiting for The Preakness horse race to begin. My son has placed our tiny bets on the horses that we think 'sound good', but our only wish really is that no horse falls down or gets hurt. So, in thinking about times in life when the unexpected happened, when you never would have believed that something would occur.....reminds me of a time that exactly met those set of circumstances.

It goes back to when my good friend Cathy[who's the mother of 3 boys] and I [with my 'one of a kind] used to hang out together. We and the 4 boys would go places like The Baseball Hall of Fame, SU basketball games, picnics, Wendy's, back to school clothes shopping, etc.

One afternoon, Cathy called on the phone and said that she could not understand why the bank had sent her a notice of 'insufficient funds'. She was sure that there was a balance sufficient to cover the checks that had been written along with some left over. I asked if she had called the bank. In going over the deposits with the bank, they had no record of her last deposit of $400.

Even though the records showed that $4oo was consistently deposited every Friday, the last one was not there. They told her that if she brought the deposit receipt into the bank, they would credit her account.

"Do you have the receipt?" [I asked]

"I have cleaned out my pocketbook, my car, my basket of bills and other stuff, and NO I didn't find it. There are $400 deposit receipts, but not with the right date. That's a lot of money to 'misplace' and I know that I went to the bank that day. I have to say that it could be anywhere because I know that I've been known to use the receipts as bookmarks or to write notes on."

Here's the 'long shot' part:

I said, "Hey Cathy, you left a note on my door the other day, and I'm thinking that it had the rectangular shape of a bank receipt. Let me see if it is on my table with some of the other things needing to be filed."

It was!! And it had the correct date!!

And she took it to the bank, and they credited her account!!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!

Evidently, the account number had been entered incorrectly. It was off by one number!!

Whew! How's that for beating the odds?

And the lesson to be learned, besides the one about having a regular place to save the receipts, is to always look at the account number to be sure that it is your account number.

And I started coding the date into my deposits and/or payments.

Like a May 6th payment would be $405.06 !

Ta-da!

A gravy recipe from my grandmother...

I was watching a commercial on television which showed delicious- looking gravy being poured over a prepared plate of cooked turkey meat. It reminded me of an occasion...

Many years ago, we were in the kitchen of very good friends [an adopted family of ours]. They had cooked a turkey dinner, and were about to make the gravy. The delicious aromas were wafting through the air. Making conversation, I shared that when my mom made gravy, she used the potato water to add with some flour before adding it to the turkey juices. Flo had been passed this info from her mom.

After discovering that the potato water was still in the pot, it was decided...

" Okay...let's give it a whirl!!"

The tupperware gravy shaker was placed on the chopping block, and first the potato water was poured into it followed by some flour. The top was secured, and the contents were shaken like a mixed drink. After which, the top burst off and the white, pasty mixture flew everywhere...onto the cabinets, the windows, the floor, and the faces and hair of all who were standing in the kitchen. Can you imagine the element of surprise...not to mention how the kitchen looked...ceiling, walls, appliances, etc. but especially to be looking at each other with that white gooey mixture in our hair, on our faces, and on our clothes. It was quite an experience, if I do say so myself!!

What happened? What went wrong?

I called Flo on the phone. We tried to figure out what went wrong and it was determined that the potato water should have been at room temperature.

Laughter with tears rolling down our faces. I can still picture it! It was far out...as we would say in those days!!