I Don't Feel Older

but I am. And yes, it certainly beats the alternative.

My Sweetie showered me with thoughtful gifts.

My card and gift at breakfast. You may not be able to tell that the heart is purple. Yep, he knows my favorite color. And cats? Well, that is a no brainer but this card has a silver tabby (Chelsea), a ginger cat (Mister Six), two Tuxedo cats (Tux and Xedo) among others. The only one missing is our Tortoiseshell, Callie.

For lunch he gave me with beautiful journal for my upcoming trip. There is an amazing exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art of Tiffany lamps.

Another lunch gift. Yes, one of my favorite painters and form of dance. And the brand name is a hoot.

Just before dinner he handed me this gift. It is so different from the jigsaw puzzles I have been addicted to for the past three or four years.

This is the one I finished on Sunday.

Here imagine a food porn photo

The last gift was one of his amazing culinary delights. Wild-caught salmon, tender asparagus spears, a roasted beet, and a side salad of spinach, kale, butter lettuce, tiny roasted onions, grapes cut in half, cherry tomatoes, and celery. 

Thank you, My Sweetie. You make me feel cherished.

Happy Birthday to Me

Ten years ago I asked if he would still love me when I am sixty-four. Yes, he did and he still loves me even though on January 27 I am seventy-four.

Where have the last ten years gone?

For those of you who were followers ten years ago, I will not be posting everyday as I did during my 65th year. I figure I will enjoy my 75th year of life without the pressure of a self-imposed deadline.

Happy Birthday to My Sweetie who is celebrating his 70^th birthday. 

Last week he had a clerk ask him if he was over 55 since he would be eligible for a discount. The guy was shocked to learn that not only was he over 55 but would be 70 this week.

My Sweetie does not look like the 70 of our parents’ generation. He weighs the same as he did in 1968 when he came out of the army.

Yes, he was drafted during the Vietnam War. He was one credit shy of a full load one semester. The army snapped him up. Due to his height and his above average intelligence, he was selected to become an MP (Military Police). This could have been a death sentence since the MPs were guarding the embassy in Saigon or were door gunners on the helicopters.

When his orders came down, he flew east to Germany where he served as an MP for 17 months. It is where he learned that if you carry a clipboard and walk briskly, no one would give you another job to do.

Since 1997 he has excelled at being a loving and generous husband, father, and grandfather. We are all so fortunate to have him in our lives. 

My Sweetie, you are simply the best and darned handsome!

Downton Abbey vs Super Bowl

On Sunday, February first, there could be interesting conversations in households in the United States.

For on Sunday there will be the clash of the titans: Downton Abbey vs the Goliath known as the Super Bowl.

                                    

Yes, TIVO, DVRs, On-Demand, and technology I am not aware of do insure that fans of both won't miss a plot twist or a touchdown. But what if neither wants to delay gratification? Yes, I know all about split screens and PIP. But I never found that to be a satisfactory solution. I can't imagine a tender scene between Anna and Bates accompanied by raucous booing of an interception.

For the last two years we have not had to resort to marital counseling because we pre-ordered the UK DVDs of Downton Abbey from Amazon and have already finished watching Season 5. So we will watch the Super Bowl together. Or rather we will be in the same room sitting in front of a cozy fire with the TV tuned to NBC.

Actually My Sweetie will watch the game with the TV muted. One of his toys is a Bluetooth adapter that transmits the sound from the TV to his hearing aids. I highly recommend it for anyone with acute hearing whose partner has suffered a hearing loss. I will tune in to watch the replays when he has either expressed "the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat."

But the sound is not muted when the commercials air. My favorite year after year? The clydesdales. Since I have never acquired a taste for beer, it will not make me rush out to buy a case of Bud. But they certainly know how to tug at the heartstrings. It is also a respite from the clash of helmets and bones.

Spoiler alert: Here is this years: http://usat.ly/1zychAi 

What is happening in your household?

January 28, 2015


What a wonderful birthday I had. It actually began on the 26th when I received a card by snail mail from Kimberly. This quote by Don Marquis was on the front, “We look forward to a disreputable, vigorous, and disorderly old age.” After stating that in no way was she implying that I am approaching anything like old age. She wrote, “I am encouraging you to be disorderly, as in continuing to be your vocal, joyful, loud-fun-public-places kind of self. Be vigorous in pursuing your dreams and pleasures, like writing and the arts and your family loves. By all means be disreputable in acting like no other 69 year old we know!” Kimberly, I promise to continue being me.

When I woke on the 27th (on the right side of the grass), I found a wonderful, sentimental card from My Sweetie. As I walked downstairs, I wondered if there would be another, as there has been in years past. Of course, there it was leaning against my bowl, which he puts out every morning, along with a spoon and a glass for orange juice. This card’s sentiment was so beautiful that tears welled up. I am one lucky woman.

The rest of the day before dinner was filled with laughter on FaceTime with Lise, during a long, lovely phone call with my sister Diane, and on FaceTime with my granddaughter Rayna. I missed a call from my dear, longtime (since 1980) friend Elizabeth but she did sing to me on voice mail.

My Facebook friends chimed in with good wishes. I thought it unusual that My Sweetie had not posted on my wall. Due to the vagaries of Facebook, his post did not appear on my wall until today. But all my friends saw it. It was worth the wait. He wrote, “Happy Birthday to my best friend, travel buddy, and the love of my life. What a time we have had these almost 18 years with many more birthdays to come. Happy Birthday Love.”

After a yummy dinner prepared by My Sweetie, he surprised me with bakery delights. (We have completely changed the way we eat. But that is a topic for another post.) We voted for the lovely chocolate mousse in a hard chocolate shell with a raspberry on top as our favorite. The key lime tart came in second. The other two tied for third.

Then it was time for me to build a fire and settle in for binging on Downton Abbey since the DVDs had arrived just in time for my birthday. My Sweetie willingly stayed up until after midnight to watch episodes 5-8 but even I could not stay up to watch the Christmas special. But now we have. The Bonus material contains a hysterical piece with Phyllis Logan (Mrs. Hughes) and Lesley Nicol (Mrs. Patmore).

All I can say is wow. Julian Fellowes certainly knows how to get one’s attention. And that is all I will say until all episodes have aired in the United States. Just hang onto your hats.

January 27, 2015: My 70th Year Begins

January 27th marks the last birthday of my 60s and the beginning of my 70^th year. Yes, on January 27, 2016, I will celebrate my 70^th birthday. And I do intend to celebrate it. Getting older certainly beats the alternative.

While I was the Manager of the Bertram Woods Library, a branch of the Shaker Heights Public Library, one of our senior regulars would stop at the reference desk to say hello. I would ask how he was. His reply, “I’m great! I woke up on the right side of the grass this morning.” Even though we had this conversations hundreds of times, I would always laugh. 

I plan to keep laughing.

O, Tannenbaum, Where Are Thy Lovely Branches?

Many years we have been successful buying a tree on Christmas Eve day. This year we had no choice since I did not arrive home until mid-afternoon on the 23rd.

First, I checked the local garden store where we have been going for the last few years. They always have dozens of Fraser firs for us last-minute shoppers. As I read the posts on its Facebook page, I blanched. They had sold out on December 21 while I was watching Serafina in A Celtic Nutcracker in New England. Well, no problem; there were other options.

I googled Christmas trees. There was a market on Euclid Avenue in University Circle. A Yelp reviewer sang its praises. There was no answer when I called. Most people probably would have seen this an ominous omen. Me? Not so much. It just meant that they were helping all the other tree-seeking folk. Off we went. As we approached, My Sweetie pronounced those disheartening words, “He’s closed.” Worse yet there was not even a needle left on the ground.

We decide to return to the Heights via Lake View Cemetery. Would they miss the the top eight feet of  this holly? It was already decorated with lovely red berries.

On up the road there were several evergreen wreaths with red bows. Who needed to go shopping?

Wait! We could go to the big white tents on Green Road. On the way I would scope out another lot we went to several years ago.

Yes! They had trees. Then My Sweetie pointed out that the sign was leaning up against the building and that there was no one there. 

No worries. We still had the tents. Oops! Nothing. No tent. No trees, No one.

Onto the YMCA assured that they would have trees since every other year they had not sold out. None? I could not believe it. 

Were we really not going to have a tree this year? But we had to have one since one grandchild especially loves our decorations: the sparkly pine cones that snap onto the white lights and the monarch butterflies illuminated by other lights.

My Sweetie and I began to brainstorm. What did we already own that we could turn into a tree? We could stack up books in a tree shape but then how would we decorate it. My Sweetie decided that the perfect solution was to bring in last year’s desiccated tree. 

Explanation required: after the holidays we place our tree close to our bird feeders so that the birds have shelter during the rest of winter. In the spring the plan is to chip and shred it for our woodland trail. Obviously, the plan was not executed this past summer.

We started laughing as we came up with one idea after another: spray it green but would the paint stick? Buy a truckload of garland from somewhere and wind it around and around the tree, hoping that most of the brown needles had already fallen. This especially appealed to us who reuse and recycle everything we can.

I looked at the lovely evergreens in the landscaping around the mall. Who would miss the top of one of them? After all, there were so many.

That idea was quickly discarded. Jail would not be a pleasant place to spend Christmas Eve although there might be a tree there. Perhaps we would be allowed to bring our presents to put under it.

What about a Norfolk Island Pine? I had already done that one year when no one was coming to stay. We had resolved to return home and start calling any florist or nursery that was still open.

Wait! My Sweetie suggested we head to Home Depot. So off we went with hope in our hearts. As we enter two men are carrying a tree to check out. Was it the last one?

We walked towards the garden center as fast as our tired bodies could carry us. Hallelujah! There were several to select from. The lone Fraser fir, our favorite for several years, was not even a Charlie Brown tree. Face it. It was half dead.

Noble firs? Didn’t I read an article extolling the virtues of them? I walked over and stuck my nose in it. Definitely a contender. Not the same as a Fraser but mighty fine.

I hung onto it while My Sweetie retrieved a cart. 

After it was in the cart, I ran outside in the bitter cold to look at wreaths. They looked great. A large one was just right for the front door, a medium for the back, and a smaller one for the basement entrance.

And they all were on sale...of course.