Is This All There Is To It?

I have just come in from the garage where I have wrapped a Christmas gift for one of my loved ones. Does that seem strange to you? I wrap gifts in the Garage!!! Well, I didn't want wandering eyes to see what I was wrapping. And I wrapped the gift on the top of the Washing Machine! Now that is really something isn't it!? I wrapped the gift on the Washing Machine. Bet you don't know too many people who do that!! 8-)))) I know no one who wraps their gifts on the Washing Machine. 

I think of Christmas as a time wherein we can really sweep out the cobwebs of our mind and think of our fellow man/woman in whatever way we choose. Oh I will get to the subject of the delicious photos above in a bit. The other day(sounds like a story is coming doesn't it??) when we were leaving a certain store in our area, a young man approached me as I was about to get in the store. He had a big backpack on and talked to me a bit. He said things like, 'I haven't eaten in 3 days,"  "I am just off the road from _____ and am so hungry." So often we are repelled from such aren't we, well I couldn't be on this occasion and gave him some funds. Does it matter what he did with the money? Not to me. He needed it and so often I count my blessings about my existence, and this poor young guy needed some help. So I did! That is part of Christmas, taking care in some way of your fellow man/woman.

Above you see in the top photograph some of my Christmas Cactus that are blooming this very minute in December in our temperate climate. What beauty they bring to the Christmas setting I believe. And the next two photos are from my significant other's kitchen. I know she won't mind my saying "significant other." We approach our 50th anniversary rather soon! Hmmmm, wonder what we will do on our 50th Anniversary. I know we will probably consider a lunch at our favorite Mexican food restaurant nearby. Maybe. 8-)))

The Chocolate Kiss cookies are among the favorites in our family. They are outstanding and it is so true, "YOU CAN'T EAT JUST ONE!!" I know our Grandsons in Ireland would just love them!!! And the PUMPKIN PIE- wow just fab!!!!All made by Significant Other!!

Well for me, Christmas boils down to so many value oriented ideas and activities. I think of this one often and try to put it into practice:

"Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder that is necessary."-James Barrie said that.

It is a good rule of life and works to make this world a bit nicer and KINDER! Try it--you'll like it!!

And when the next delivery man/woman comes to the door with a gift I have ordered for one of my loved ones, it will be----grab the wrapping paper, the tape and scissors and out to the washing machine!!!!!---unless my significant other is washing clothes, then...........well there always will be the TRASH BINS as a backup!! 8-)))) Happy Wrapping!!

Closing with a few wonderful words from people about Christmas. I hope you enjoy them.

MERRY AND HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

"For somehow, not only at Christmas, but all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you."
     - John Greenleaf Whittier

"Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves."
     - Eric Sevareid

"Until one feels the spirit of Christmas, there is no Christmas. All else is outward display--so much tinsel and decorations. For it isn't the holly, it isn't the snow. It isn't the tree not the firelight's glow. It's the warmth that comes to the hearts of men when the Christmas spirit returns again." 

--Unknown

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." 

--Norman Vincent Peale

"Christmas--that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance--a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved."--Augusta E. Rundel

Happy Holidays Everyone!! BT

The Christmas Cactus Are Blooming! Christmas Is Coming!

September 1 is here! Wow, and we are still having hot and very humid summer weather. Oh, want to remind all of you out there. The Christmas Cactus are blooming---NOW is the time to begin your Christmas list of gifts you hope Santa might bring you if you have been good this year!! Have you??? Of course we all know the answer to that. Certainly you have!!!! But have I? Oh definitely!! Now that--that is over, onward to blog.

The Christmas Cactus above  has a wonderful name. I love it! Thor Nille, and it is starting to bloom with that startingly beautiful color that you see. What a fantastic bloom. I have a whole corner of my patio full of many Schlumbergera(Christmas Cactus). Several are blooming, I see red, majenta, orange colors as I view them there. They are something my Mom always liked and she had some in the patio there in the house when we would visit near Christmas.

I have been working lots on Genealogy as has my Mrs. It is much fun to find out about those in our family line who came before us. My people came over from England in the 1600's and located on the east coast of America, and I always wonder how they made the long voyage over here. It must have been a difficult time for them. I have read a bit of those early voyages, and the food was limited, water stored in barrels aboard the ships and it would take weeks, maybe months to get here.

My GGGG Grandfather John actually was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and while out on patrol with 12 others, John Saxon was attacked by British troops at Phillips Woods. 2 soldiers were killed in the fight. They returned to Dobbs Ferry. John was discharged at a place called Summerstown Plain, Stephen Town, NY, in the County of Westchester about Jan. 1, 1782. He had served his 8 months.

And, of course, how can I not mention my GG Grandfather Alvah(Alvey) who was a soldier in the American Civil War. Alvah, youngest son of Gilbert., was a soldier, and he was assigned to the Thirty-first Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry and joined his regiment at Bridgeport, Alabama. He then returned to Nashville and was in the battle at that place where his regiment lost heavily. He was also in the Battle of Franklin. He accompanied his regiment as far as Duck River in pursuit of General Hood, at which place he was left sick in a hospital. I have a wonderful photograph of him in his army uniform, it is a bit torn and tattered, and he looks absolutely exhausted and very tired. I don't know who took the photo but it is wonderful to have it. 

I  have always thought that it is very important for people to know from whence they have come, and who their descendants were. Why? So that you have an understanding of who all those people who came before you in your family line are, and perhaps your place in the history of this Earth. I know as some of my descendants moved westward from New York, at times they had to cut down trees in the middle of forests, and built temporary log cabins while they worked on their permanent houses. How capable they must have been!

Today it feels like the hot and humid Caribbean. We are feeling the monsoonal weather from down south and I wonder if it will get cold, ever.

Hmmmmm.......Christmas list? I wonder what the heck to put on it. Maybe some chocolate cupcakes or a chocolate cake with extra frosting, or some homemade lasagna, or maybe homemade tostadas. Really the gifts from home are the best in this life. That is what I think.

Merry Christmas List Everyone.

Lunch Out With The Family?? Hmmmm.......................Sweet Tooth!

              Lunch Out With The Family? Huh?? Who Has The Sweet      Tooth, Anyway??

You know what it's like. It always happens this way. At least I think it does. You are talking or emailing a family member and someone says, "Hey let's do a lunch this week." Ok, "Sounds good, I think I can retain my diet conscious mind throughout a lunch out somewhere and eat properly." I must confess though, I am one who always, and I mean always enjoys a delicious and chocolaty dessert. Always have, always will! My Wife is a premier baker of all things, including the most delicious cookies, scones, cakes, brownies, lemon bars, cupcakes and the like. And don't ask my weight!! Some things in this life must be kept secret and that is one. 

Well just the other day I lunched out with 2 family members who ALSO have the reputation in the family as very big dessert eaters!! And I ain't talkin' turkey here, my friend. When I say BIG dessert eaters, I mean just that. How do you think I found out about Sees Candy?? Well we had an enjoyable seafood lunch, very satisfying and now came the big moment. The time to decide: Do we order DESSERT or not. I already knew the answer!! I looked at my two family members when I asked, "Will we do dessert!" I swear their pupils dilated, their eyelashes batted rapidly, they grabbed their forks and spoons and replied, "You betcha Papa!" That ended it all. Over came the waiter and we ordered the above Mud Pie with Oreo cookies spread throughout the ice cream. Note it is smothered in whipped cream and chopped nuts.

I could feel each bite of the Mud Pie swirling around and swimming around with the Seafood in my stomach. Wow, it was tasty, I will admit.

Why do people like dessert? Is it an addiction, or it makes one feel good, or what??!! I will never know, but I do know this. When we go out next week, I shall ask, "Shall we do dessert?" The eyes will roll, the eyelashes will bat, and the spoons and forks will be snatched lightning quick from the table and the waiter will slide over and lo and behold, the dessert order will go in.

Did I hear someone say, "I love dessert!" 8-)))

Aren't Shoes Funny!!

                                       Aren't Shoes Funny?!

I have always thought Shoes are funny, that's right--by funny I mean a bit strange. When did Men and Women start putting something stylish on their feet? When I watched the film "Jurassic Park" I could easily see why you would want to wear something on your 'boats'(meaning feet!). My wife found that for me on a thesaurus! She is indeed intelligent and very clever, you see. Anyway back to "Jurassic Park"! Would you want those Raptors stomping all over your little "tootsies"?? My wife and her thesaurus also gave me that one!! She is indeed a very clever and well educated person! Well I wouldn't want to do a tap dance to keep the Raptors off my feet! This photo shows my new shoes. I will not tell you how much they cost as they were a gift! Sorta! But coming from way back in the history of time where I used to pick up empty soda bottles along the road of a small town and put them in my wagon to take downtown to the Red and White Grocery for some coins makes me think. A small glass soda bottle was 2 cents and a large one was 5 cents. When I was a kid, the cost of these marvelous covers for my boats probably would have paid my Mom and Dad's rent on that wonderful old house wherein I was raised. 

How is your mind these days? Why would I ask such when we are discussing shoes. I will tell you why!

My Dear and I went to dinner last night in one of our favorites haunts. I had an idea, once in awhile I get such, that I would test my Wife's observation powers. I would wear 2 different shoes and see if she or anyone noticed. Maybe that is like putting on your pants backwards and see if the World notices. Not sure. Well anyway, we had a lovely dinner, no one noticed the shoes, the waitress only noticed my watch. While walking out, I said to her(my Wife), "Look down at my shoes." "Don't be silly and ridiculous." I repeated, "Look down at my shoes." She, "Oh alright!" The scream that came out of her mouth was like out of the movie in the shower scene from "Psycho". Well, my goose is cooked on this one. I will confess, while dressing for dinner(and I really wanted to look good, maybe a cross between a young Robert Redford and a young Marlon Brando), for some reason that only probably the Raptors from Jurassic Park would know, I put on 2 different shoes! Yes, I said 2 different shoes, and no one noticed. We are going out tonight, and I wonder if I can get away with it again????? 8-)))) And maybe the pants on backwards?? It is my theory that people really don't notice others as they are so wrapped up in their lives. Hey, a great idea, I could start a new line of shoes, each pair would have 2 shoes of different design, and have models in Paris, London and New York model them!!!!! Hey, and I would name the new line of shoes; ""Bob's Folly"" !! How is your mind today? Mine is perfectly fine and normal!!!!! 8-))))) I think I will go put on my shoes correctly. 

Picasa Web Albums - Bob Townsend

Picasa Web Albums - Bob Townsend:

A boy with his airplane a long time ago

Yep, that is I standing there in the front yard of the old house where my family and I lived for a long time in my life. It was a house where I had been ill for 6 weeks at around age 10 or 11. It was a house where we used to play the game 'hide and go seek' out in that orange orchard behind me in the photograph. It was a  wonderful place to grow. We kids used to roller skate around the block on the sidewalk and play baseball in the vacant lot down the block. In those days, you knew everyone in every house. Down 2 houses Mr. and Mrs. K, a senior family from Germany. My sister and I used to go visit them and sit and talk with the Mrs. as she sat in her rocking chair. Then on the corner, the family from Scotland, who were friendly and enjoyed being in America. Then around the corner were Uncle Bill and Aunt Iva. They were not our real Uncle and Aunt, but close friends to our family. Aunt Iva had been my First Grade teacher, and Uncle Bill was the house husband, as they would say today. Around the corner on the other block was where my friend Donnie lived with his Grandparents who were raising his sister and Donnie. Thank the Lord for all the Grandparents who have been called upon to raise their grandchildren for whatever reason! And the quiet and warm days of summer were wonderful in those days, playing until I heard my Dad's loud whistle telling me time to come home. And I could hear that whistle even today in my mind. They mostly were all kind people and when we would see them we would speak to them. It was that kind of place, that block of  houses. It you would drive by this area today, you would not recognize it. It has changed tremendously, but that is what happens as time goes by-change in almost everything. We used to love going carefully across the road and finding sour grass and chewing on it in the orchard. There were jack rabbits living in the orchard and sometimes you would see them. I remember during World War 2, believe it or not, seeing army troops marching down the street to the High School athletic field and pitching tents there for a few days. I suppose they eventually went to duty somewhere in some far off land. I  remember catching crawdads in an irrigation box out in the orchard and bringing them home and keeping them for awhile as pets. The memories are there forever. Today with our cell phones, computers, and so on, one can only marvel at the progress that has been made in life. One must be thankful for where they are and what they have. I come from a time of kind of a simple life. We didn't have too much money and life was still good and enjoyable. I will never forget those days at the old house. We gardened, had a dog, and loved our family. What more can one ask who comes from long ago and whose mind often returns to those days. I can see it all even now as I approach 3/4 of a century on this earth.

Want To Hear A Story?

"People are hungry for stories. It's part of our very being. Storytelling is a form of history, of immortality too. It goes from one generation to another."

    

 - Studs Terkel

Who doesn't? I mean who doesn't want to hear a story. Stories have been around, and I love to tell them. When you have lived this long(and I mean LONG!) you have plenty of fodder to fascinate or bore people, take your choice. My family would be the first to say, "Yeah, he talks too much!" 8-))

But that is ok. I could tell you of the time my Dad hoisted me on the back of a calf in Arizona up at the Mountain Cabin, or maybe the time, when a young lad, I was crawling across a fallen tree to get over a medium sized creek on a hike in the mountains and rammed a broken branch, just missing my eye, into the side of my head. Those are all fun to tell and of course, the storyteller can really exaggerate if he/she wants to. But how about those days when I would fish for crawdads down in the irrigation box among the orange trees in my  home town. What is a crawdad?Well it looks like a miniature lobster, brown and has claws that can deliver a sharp pinch. How about when I raised chickens, and saved a neat little chicken from his carnivorous brothers and sisters, and I trained him to sit on my arm. How cool is that?--a full grown chicken sitting on your arm. Has that ever happened to you? Stories, if true, often reflect our life and its activities. I think often writers use their life experiences to develop their stories. ("A Movable Feast") by Ernest Hemingway. Then there's the time Barber Shop owner Charlie(I was a shoeshine boy in his barbershop) told me to go down the street to the furniture store and see how much they would pay for the hair clippings that I would sweep up from the Shop floor, to use to stuff their sofas and chairs. 8-)) Good old Charlie, really got one over on me with that! And no they didn't pay!! Yes, I went down the street and asked them!!

And then there was the time I fell in the lake trying to tie up my Dad's boat as we came into the dock! Now that was really funny, and did I ever make a big splash! I remember my Sister and I as young kiddos, skating around the block there in my home town, with our clamp on rollerskates, what a fabulous time, even when I fell and tore the knee out of my jeans and bloodied my knee. It was superbly fun! I know, I know, I didn't finish any of the stories. But maybe someday.........

And then there was the time when I visited my Grandfather and we went out in his workshop, had some of the worst coffee in the world 8-))) one could ever have, and he told me a bit about his life. What a fab storytime that was. He is gone now, but I have that story forever in my mind.

I remember going to the Ranch in Arizona, and the first thing my Sister and I would say to another Granpa was: "Can you get the horses, Darlin' and Chub for us so we can ride?" And he would!

"The story — from Rumplestiltskin to War and Peace — is one of the basic tools invented by the human mind, for the purpose of gaining understanding. There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories."
    

 - Ursula K. Le Guin 

Well thus goes the story-telling for today. Hey, I want to tell you a story: The first time we saw our Grandsons after they were born. Now that was a thrilling story! Now we see them on the computer screen when we do Skype or Facetime. How wonderful is that? And seeing our daughters, just after their arrival into this world at their respective hospitals. Wow! How cool is that!! Later from the Story-Den.

Someday maybe I will finish the above stories(now they are teasers).

How Fun Is That!!

What Is Happening?

This is indeed one of those weeks one later wonders about! Where is the world going? And when funny things happen, I always think a bit about them for days, trying to figure out what the heck is happening. When I was a boy,  my family absolutely loved artichokes. In fact, when we would have them for dinner, of course with other foods and a main course too, my Mom would cook 4 of the strange medium sized veggies. She first would soak them in water in the sink to get all the bugs out of them. Then into the hot water in a pot on the stove for awhile. Then they would be served to the table. Each of the 4 of us would have our dinner plate in front of us, and there would be a small salad type bowl to each persons right. That is where the artichoke would go. We would eat them with mayonnaise and/or butter. As a boy, I was wild about them and ate them very well. How do you eat an artichoke?Well, liken it to a monkey or some kind of wild animal in a forest primieval!! You grasp each leaf individually and pull it off the ball like orb of dark green leaves, of course avoiding the sticker in the end of the leaf. You drag the leaf through the butter and/or mayo and then place the leaf, the end you are not holding, in your mouth between the upper canine teeth and the lowers. You then pull with all your might, while biting down on the "meat" of the leaf, and you have a mouthful of pasty, green STUFF in your mouth. This you do over and over until most of the leaves are gone. You stack the used leaves up somewhere by your plate or somewhere! The true aficionado, of course, when all leaves are done, goes for the heart of the artichoke, and my Mom and Dad loved that part of it. I wouldn't touch it.  The heart is located between the stem and the bottom row of leaves, and takes a bit of cutting to get to. Well that is it. I don't know how many artichokes we ate over the years growing up, but it was a very large number. Do I like them today? NO. Would I eat one today? NO. Would I eat one if someone offered me a large sum of money to do so. NO.............wait a minute. Maybe..........depends on how large a sum.  8-))))) I have a somewhat strange type of reputation around my family about types of food I totally reject: peas, corn off the cob, squash, and the like. Well, they can add artichokes. It will never be on my menu. We were in the SuperMarket today stocking up the larder(we must eat, musen't we???) and I saw a lovely display of artichokes. Ah----a teachable moment in life. I selected a very nice globular green one and said to my wife, "Now these are the leaves you eat, and the heart is down here, do you want to try one?" "Of course not," she said.  And my teachable lesson was done. Artichokes, make a lamp outta them or something! They are not for me!

Just the other day, I had to go to the Bank. I learned as a boy from my Mom and Dad, whenever you go somewhere special like the Doctor, the Bank or Downtown, you kind of want to look nice and civilized, so you kind of dress up. When arriving at the ATM line, yes I said line, as people must have come into some money, I took my place and waited. A senior citizen gentleman was next to me, and I must have looked ok to him, cause he said something like: "I don't mind waiting cause I am retired and have plenty of time. Yesterday was a holiday so they couldn't do the Banking then." No way was I going to let him do a one-ups-manship on me. I looked into his midwestern eyes(could tell by his accent) and said, "I have been retired 13 years." No response. Then out of the double Bank doors came a young college type lady, dressed casually, until I looked at her feet!!! She had been inside the Bank in her "lovely" fuzzy house slippers!!!!!!!Yes, I said fuzzy blue house slippers!!!! How crazy is that? Will the next craze in this college community be to go to the Bank or Theater or Store in your PJ's??? As a matter of fact one of my daughters says she sees them in PJ bottoms and slippers all the time in coffee places and downtown. Can't you just see it now. Joe Jones call his girlfriend at the dorm, "Hey Sadie, how about going out for coffee? I'll be right over." Sadie says, "Just a moment I need to change clothes." Joe says, "Ok, make it casual." She answers, "Ok, PJ's and Slippers." How cool is that?? Well for the young ones, it is cool. For us ancient ones, it boggles the mind. But lots of people say we older folks have boggled minds anyway!! I am going to put on my slippers now and go run some errands. The PJ's--no way!!

      A Digital Camera

I love photography! What a medium-the PRESENT becomes the PAST, and you can view your photos for many years. My wife and I have been doing more genealogy, and we can view photos of our distant ancestors that we have obtained from different sources. What excitement that can generate. Once I sent my long lost cousin in Michigan a photo of myself, and she said that "you look like the men in the family for sure." How interesting that is as throughout my life, people always said I looked like my Dad. Even at Dad's funeral, one of the pall bearers sidled up to me and said, " Bob, now that you have gained some weight, you sure look like your Dad!" Wow, huh, WHO has gained weight?? Me, NO WAY! But what a  nice thing to say I looked like Dad all those years. I love it. He truly was a handsome and neat looking fellow. Knowing my Grandfather George, I could look at his face and see glints of my Dad's caricature. I am very fortunate to have known both of them.

Gosh, have I gotten off the track! Last night, we happened to be out with some of our extended family at a restaurant. I had my iPhone along with the cam built in and took some photos of the group. I always believe when it comes to photography, take it, take it, take it!! How many times I have waited and the hummingbird or hawk flew away!!! Sad, but true. Digital photography has played havoc with the film industry. I mean the kind of film you might put in your old "point and shoot" cam. It is practically gone. The clarity of the photos is far superior to the old film cameras. 

When I take photos I love to just take them. My Wife and Daughters will testify to the speed of my finger on the shutter when they are in the room and I take the photos! But I have those photos held tight in history to view again and again. How great is that! I have virtually thousands of photos of flowers. Wow! that is a lot of flowers.

When I traveled in Europe as a young man(doesn't everyone these days do that?) Well, they sure didn't then. I had to borrow the money for the trip from a bank. The President of the Bank was the one I talked to in our small town with 2 banks, and he approved the modest loan, and his comment to me was, "You are doing something I wish I had done many years ago." Loved the trip! And no digital camera-my Dad loaned me his old(today it is) Argus C3-35mm cam, which of course took film. I took lots of film rolls with me and mailed them home in special mailers for development. Worked great! See photo of the camera below:

But, I love the convenience of digital. I will never use anything else. It is the only way to go for me. Oh, I have one of my Dad's first Kodak Reflex Brownie cameras. Yes, film! It is neat to study and look at and tell stories about, but not to use for me. Dad loved photography too and was an excellent photographer.

And can you imagine that a phone can now have a camera built in?? Take a look at a couple of my past blogs here. You will see from whence I come, and I will tell you it is a long time ago. That was the time of the non-dial phone where you spoke to a live operator. Wow, most kids would say today, "You are kidding us-a live operator, no way."

My Grandsons do photography with their iPods. And their Mom is also into digital photography! They do well too. How great is that!! Taking after the Grandfather! I love it!!

Gotta go take a digital photo of the wife. She is in the kitchen cutting up the stew meat for her delicious home-made stew. How interesting is that!!!!!????  8-)))))

Enjoy the day!

A Teacher Looks At The Past

I used to be in what I call the school business. I taught for many years. Why am I writing about this? Today when I went in for a Doctor's appointment, I was escorted, as per usual, back to the exam room by a technician at the Dr's office. Somewhere deep in this ancient mind, I thought she looked familiar. And she was!! She recognized me immediately and called me by name. Mr._______, did you teach at ______ School? Yes, I answered and told her she looked familiar and lo and behold she did attend that school, and was in the classroom next to mine. In fact, one of her best friends was in my classroom and she promised to say hello to her for me. Wow! This really gets one who has taught that long! You remember all the kids as they were in your classroom at age 10 or 11. And when you see them as adults, you must ask them things like, "Tell me your name." "Whose class were you in?" and so on. This has happened before, and always did to my Dad in our hometown when I was young and would go downtown with him on errands. We would see his former students and they fondly greeted him and remembered him.
It really makes you think of the past, present and the future when you see and talk with your former students. What a pleasure to know they are doing well. I like that. The Technician had lots of nice things to say about me as a teacher and I appreciated the comments. Sometimes it brings a tear to ones eye! And it did!

"A teacher affects eternity, he/she can never tell where his/her influence stops."

A Technological Revolution

What Technological Revolution?........................

 OR

Is a Smart Phone only for a Smart Person??

The phone rang as I was sitting relaxing on the couch last night. It was not the standard ring one might expect. It sounded like "Duh-Duh-Duh-Duh............ if you can imagine. For you see I had just installed the theme from the old TV series, Twilight Zone! It was a rather late evening call, and as I picked it up and answered, I wondered who would be calling so late at night. Well, it was my wife and she was sitting 10 feet away from me in her recliner, with her Smart Phone in her hand. She was testing my newly downloaded Twilight Zone ringtone. Where are we? What year is it? My confused mind flows through the idea of having any other ring on a phone except the old "Ring-Ring" from many years ago in our small house in the small town where I was born and grew up. 

You see, if you look at the picture of the phone above that is exactly the kind of phone we had in that little house. Except there was no dial. When you wanted to call you picked up the receiver hanging there like a ripe banana, and waited for the Operator to say, "Number Please" and you gave her the number you were calling. My friend's Mom was named Thelma and she was the operator most of the time at the phone company down in the small town center. We would say, "Hi Thelma, what time is it?" or something like that and Thelma would tell us. We were on a party line--no you party animals!! That is not where the party is!!! 8-))) That meant that one or more households shared that line with you and your ring tone was a different number of "ring-rings"! And if you picked up the phone and there were voices talking, that meant that one of the other parties was using the phone and you were to hang up and wait. As you can see, I come from the old, very OLD days. How old? I never can tell anyone, but I do remember seeing soldiers marching down our narrow street during World War 2 to bivouac down at the local high school. So there, that should give you an idea.

Yes, we have newish Smart Phones and boy are they something!! We were at the Mall yesterday, and I called my wife to check on her for lunch time. Well, with the Smart Phone, since she didn't answer I left a message on her Voice Mail. Can you see that we are building a completely new set of vocabulary words with these Smart Phones?? "Voice Mail, text message, contacts, smart phone" and the like.

Back to the earlier story, as I sat on the couch, my Wife announced that she had downloaded a new Ring Tone for her Smart Phone! And she asked, from 10 feet away in her recliner if I could call her and see if it worked. It was the Downton Abbey Theme from the recent TV series, so I did. The phones worked perfectly, and my mind swam through the convenience of our Smart Phones, and I thought, Is a Smart Phone only for a Smart Person??? Well don't ask me if I am smart? Maybe 8-)))) By golly, now that I think about it maybe I should have downloaded the theme song from the Film Rocky, Sly Stallone's series done several years ago.

It took me several months/years to get used to people walking around the Super Market and Malls and the Streets of our City talking out loud with earphones of some type on their Smart Phones. I saw one this a.m. at the Super Market, and I still wanted to say, "Excuse me were you talking to me??" I suppose I will never get used to that, but maybe I will. I do have some earphones and a Smart Phone.

Hmmmmm..............in thinking about it, I say: Smart Phones Rule! I wonder if they have them in the Artic?"

Oh excuse me, the Twilight Zone is ringing on my Smart Phone. I know who it is: It is my Sweet Wife calling from the garage, the washer drain must be stopped up again!!!!!!!!

One Of Those Weeks!!

DOES THIS MEAN...................

Well, it all started with that bowl of granola cereal the other day! I have been eating that cereal for many years now, and I decided to try a globule, or whatever you would call it, of the cereal before I put enough milk on it to soften the gritty stuff! Snap! A big hunk of my molar, tooth # 30, broke off!!! Yikes!!! My good wife has all the tooth numbers memorized and I asked her----TOOTH # 30!!!!!! What fun it is!!Well I went to my longtime dentist and it took an hour and several minutes to put a temporary new portion of a tooth(they call it a crown--does that mean I am Royal??) I won't divulge how much it will cost by the time I get the permanent GOLD crown installed but it is substantial. Is this like getting a new tire for the car???

This was an old tooth, with an old filling in it that they had marked on my file to WATCH!!! Does this mean I am getting OLD???? I think I will title this essay: DOES THIS MEAN?????

The Dental Assistant was very talkative and informed me several times she was so hungry as she did not eat breakfast. You see, she said, the on-duty assistant texted her early in the a.m. that she was ill and could my Dental Assistant come in and take her place. She did. Then being hungry she wanted to talk about fast food, and the taco joint down the street. I told her about my previous meals at that food chain in rather glowing terms, and she finally said, "I think I will go there for lunch!" That being done, the dentist walked in. He did an outstanding job on #30 and I was outta there in a hour and 20 minutes. The receptionist informed she had a new computer from Apple which she really likes as I was on the way out. 

Yep, it was one of those adventuresome days for me. I later met my wife and daughter for a lunch out, my face barely hanging together from the anesthetic. But I was able to coax "some of the food" into my mouth staying away from the "danger area"---TOOTH 30!!! I didn't want my wife and daughter to think they were lunching with an infant. You know what I mean if you have ever fed an infant at the hi-chair. The food is ALL OVER THEIR FACE!!!!!!

Well, that is it!!! I came home with a slight headache, which got worse. Took a couple of tylenol and sat down with the TV. 

Another Adventure from Retirement!!!

Happy Days!!!

(I wonder when the next molar will go!!??)

My teeth are ancient.

If found by a paleontologist, they would be identified from the era of the Tyranosaurus!!!

8-)))))))))))))))

Wonder what adventure TOMORROW will bring??