Our President

For 2 years we have been gathering information about who should run our country.

Now that's a mighty big order to expect of anyone...other than GOD!

Well, Obama has stepped up to the plate and is going to do his very best to get us out of the jams we're in.

Guess it all started with the war that nobody wanted!

Then the Great American Dream...owning an overpriced big home with little or no money.

That's where I stepped in and got hurt. I lost all my Fannie Mae savings. Poof! Just like that!

I really truly don't understand the mentality of most CEO'S. They think they can walk away with all the money....and they do.

They accomplish. They're all super rich...and the rest of us are shumcks.

I feel frustrated like most other Americans....but what to do...what to do!

Me....I'm banking on Obama!

I wonder if anyone else remembers..or am I too old?

Thoughts drift in and out of my mind at no particular time of the day. These musings just appear.

Like for instance...the little slot that used to be on bathroom medicine cabinets for men to drop their razor blades in. Wonder what happened when it all filled up.

Did anybody's Mother make 'orange candy' out of the pealings of naval oranges and I don't know what the other ingredients were...but I loved it.

We used to take a clove of garlic and rub it on a piece of toasted rye bread...and so delicious.

We used to take our tablets or notebooks and drop ink on it and create Roarch Tests and see if we could identify what it appeared to be.

We didn't use a kazoo to make music...took a comb with a piece of tissue paper or toilet paper...and if it didn't tickle your lips to much...compose our own beautiful music.

I wonder if anyone had to wear 'snuggies' on cold days...tops and bottoms...embarrassing but oh so warm and cozy.

Just thoughts and more thoughts. My Sister Elayne and I changed our dresses when we came home from school and put on playclothes.
I wore her hand-me-downs since she was 3 years older.

We used to lie on our stomachs with the radio on to do our homework. It was such a natural position for us.

I can still smell the musty smell on trains from the upholstered seats.

Comfortable...but smelly! I can still see the conductor with his gold buttons on his vest and jacket.

Wonder why they always made men's suits with vests. Most men never wore them.

What makes these thoughts clutter my brain at this time in my life...I haven't the faintest....

Brother Can You Spare A Dime!

Is this what is happening to the world today.

We're on a freefall and nothing seems to stop it. Do we have no brilliant minds left to get us out of this mess.

Were we just taking 'the good life' for granted...and now we get this kick in the you know what.

I wonder what the people who ring the bell at 4 o'clock on Wall Street think...and they have to applaud yet.

Can you imagine standing there and applauding. I can't.

Did we reach the bottom yet...or are we still going down?

Well...one thing for sure...we're all in this together.

Now does that make you feel any better?

This is my new philosophy!

oops...now you'll know where I'll be keeping my money!

Are we becoming one people under God!

If Obama becomes our president, what does this mean to the Black folks!

That now, finally, we are all even. I don't think so! Blacks still have more menial jobs, spend more time in prisons, and have a poorer education that whites. Now, why did I capitalize blacks and not whites. Do I think of us as having no color while they do.

And their is a caste system in black black and light black like Obama. If he were darker, would he still be so desirable to us!

Maybe statisticians along the road will be able to understand these differences. And what what Hispanics...one out of every 3 people in about 15 years will be a Latino.

So..is this the new 'melting pot'. At the turn of the last century, it was the people coming into Elis Island that gave us this name.

They were given the charming term 'green horns'.

And I musn't forget the Indians...very smart people and they make excellent doctors.

When I hear a symphony orchestra, it seems the orientals take center stage with string instruments...violins, harps, and piano.

So maybe we are meant to blend into one color Under God! The sun is making me so dark, I'm almost not a cacasian.

Spelling bees seem to be won by the Viatnamese ... and so many of the products that we use are made by Chinese.

But they really all want to come to America...so we really must have something going here.

Me....I'm so proud and privileged to live here. If I had been born in Europe, I probably wouldn't have existed 60 years ago.

But I'm here...I'm happy and I'm going to the pool!

Have I been Rip Van Winkle?

I went to our clubhouse to watch the opening of the Olympics on a larger screen than I have at home. It was spellbinding and I really appreciated the time spent constructing this magnificence.

However, when the countries marched in...it was like I was on a different planet. Half of the countries I never heard of. Did the ocean open up and form more islands and then they became countries.

Did I flunk geography? Was I sleeping when the countries were formed.

Did they change the names to protect the innocent like in Jack Webber?

I can't figure it out. The folks sitting behind me went to a school in New York and they never heard of them either.

When did all these changes take place? I have an old world globe...these countries don't exist on it.

I used to collect stamps...never heard of them and I had them from all over the world.

I'm old...is it possible that I have forgotten their names. They're not so primitive....they know about the Olympics because they sent representatives.

Some countries only had one. Most of them were black. Was Africa all divided up.

How do they earn a living in these countries....are they a happy people. We know so little about them.

The longer I live ... the more confused I become.

Are our children aware of these names. Do they ever visit the United States....are they friendly.

It's like they're from another planet. Maybe I need to go back to school?

Today we see China promoting the Olympics for grand propaganda purposes, reintroducing itself to the world for what it expects to be its dominant century. But in 1958 China wanted nothing to do with the rest of the world. Mao Zedong's People's Republic withdrew from the Olympics altogether that year in an ideological snit over the refusal of Brundage and his IOC cohorts to ban Taiwan, which called itself the Republic of China and was run by Chiang Kai-shek, Mao's old antagonist. In retreating from the Olympics, China denounced Brundage as "a tool of the imperialistic State Department of the United States."
The context was different, but the central political question as the Rome Olympics neared was the same as it is now: how should the world deal with China? The issue was debated that year by Vice President Richard Nixon and Sen. John F. Kennedy during the presidential campaign, and Brundage and the IOC became embroiled in it as well. The United States did not recognize Mao's mainland government, Mao did not recognize Chiang's island government and the IOC had nothing but trouble with both. Not long after the People's Republic withdrew from the Olympics, the IOC ruled that Taiwan could no longer call itself the Republic of China at the Olympics because it did not represent the geographical entity of China. It could march in the opening ceremony only as Taiwan or the other name for the island, Formosa.
Suddenly Brundage went from being called a tool of American foreign policy to being labeled a communist sympathizer. Right-wing groups in the United States mounted an intense letter-writing campaign denouncing him. The State Department, while claiming to be free from political involvement in the Olympics, began a lobbying effort to persuade the IOC to overturn the decision. The Taiwanese, in diplomatic cables with Washington, went so far as to suggest that perhaps they should introduce Brundage, a known philanderer, to some of the "fleshpots of Rome" to help the cause. When all else failed, the United States urged Taiwan to boycott the Olympics rather than accede to the change in nomenclature, which was taken as a symbolic victory for the Reds in the cold war.

All I ever learned about China was from Pearl Buck and it wasn't very flattering about their girl babies.

Today...half of all the products we buy come from China.

My old telephone directory!

One of the last things I packed when we moved to Florida was the telephone book. I might need it!

Well, it's been 20 years now and my life has changed a lot and so has the info in the phone book. Two decades of decayed and yellowed pages of the people I once had daily interchange with.

Now it's a phone call and Christmas cards...and as the years melt into one another...it seems like light years away.

I believe I have grown in ways since we left. In other ways we were important people in our town especially to little boys and girls who wanted toys.

I don't need this book any longer. I can get all this information on my computer in a second.........anybody's number and address.

Progress has intervened and I just love it.

Why am I having qualms about ditching it. It's one of the last things I have left from New Kensington, Pa. other than my memories.

After my father moved to Florida, he would go over all the businesses in the downtown area...and he recalled them all. I didn't realize it then, but it was a memory test of his.

Now I find myself doing exactly the same thing....just thinking and remembering. It wasn't all that beautiful or great...but it was where I grew up...my childhood....my young married life.

Now I'm donating it to solid waste management...maybe it can be recyled into more paper...maybe it can enter this century.

I'm letting go.......

Reality shows

Have you noticed lately how every show on TV is a reality show?

Bad language and violence are more subdued now...and it's time for everyone to participate the way it's happening...right now.

From dog-training, apprenticing, dating, dancing, singing, cooking....it's all about being able to compete. Even dieting...getting weighed in once a week. Or even...are you smarter than a 5th Grader! And let's go a step farther...going on the Judge Judy show for a judgment. Matter of fact, I just stumbled on another about buying fixer-uppers and getting a crew to make it look like it was just built.

Now competition is a strong word. If you're in a circus reality...you can break your neck..because they're performing without a net.

But we just casually sit and watch and be entertained..

I do believe that many of these young people would never get exposure to the audiences if it wasn't for these shows popping up.

But I think that we've lost the reality to fantasy...and everything is just for our entertainment.

We simply just sit and watch. Maybe that's why we're not getting as upset as we should over the stock market. Is that just another reality show...and then they're going to make it better?

I dunno....but something better happen soon.

Or maybe it's like Shakespeare said...The World's a Stage Where We All Play a Part'. This show has no script...it's improvisation...we make it up as we go along...hopefully being right half the time.

So does that mean we're all in one big reality show on earth?

Chicken Little

How many hundreds of thousands of chickens have we tried to be creative with? I know you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition...but now I must concentrate on this chicken thing.

Each country has different cooking styles for this unlucky bird whose main reason for living is to give us eggs and then let us feed on him.

I'll tell you what really disturbs me. When I go to the supermarket and I see their rotisserie with all the chicken, side by side, with their wings at their side, roasting and rotating while their juices flow.

Perhaps I should become a vegetarian!

Dog eat dog world!

Anyhow today I'm in the process of doing something with breasts...not mine...a chicken whose fate is to be not long-lived.

Did he enjoy his little bit of time on earth? Does he have a brain.

I know he has a heart and a liver...but I've never heard of chicken brains. I've heard of cow brains...but what about this unfortunate creature.

Am I spoiling my appetite for what I am about to cook!!!! MAYBE.

My telephones

Our first phone was installed when I was 3 but I remember it.

No more running next door to make a phone call or receive one.

It was one with 2 pieces...you spoke in the speaker part and listened with the the ear phone.

When you lifted the handset, a very pleasant, non-computer voice said 'Number Please.

We had a 4-party line and if we were on too long, we heard about it from the other parties...and then we hung up fast.

Later, we got a circular number dial phone and I thought that was really 'up there'. The word high-tech did not come into being yet.

When Jeff was on vacation from college on Chanukah, he said we're all going to Sears and he was going to buy us a 'push button' phone.

Well, I was against this but I went along. That meant he had to un-install the one we had and re-install the new one.

I really thought I would never have telephone service again...but Jeff and Allen worked on this project and when they were finished, we had a dial tone and I knew we were back in business.

Now I have 3 phones...land phone, remote and a cell phone, which Jeff and Donna have charged for me every year....and every year I have tons of minutes on it ... but I forget to use it. I just don't like the quality of it....seems like a toy phone to me.

The phone I have in my bedroom is really snazzy....it's an 'answering machine' which I think is a miracle in itself.

I have 'caller ID' which interrupts me if I'm using the phone.

I also have a 'speaker phone'....and an ID feature which lets me screen calls if I want to.

It also tells me what time the caller has tried to reach me and the day.

I think that even Alexander Graham Bell would be overwhelmed by the wonderfulness that he invented.

What a sensationl invention. And one other feature, I get to use a web-cam and to see and talk to my kids every Sunday when they give me computer lessons...all the things I screwed up with during the week. Because of the phone I have high-speed internet service...all for reading ythe silly jokes.

I'm not complaining...I JUST LOVE IT1

The Charge Card

The year was 1967 and Mastercard came into being.

Is this a friend or foe? It's ruined many people who haven't the faintest idea of spending.

It's helped me out a lot. My husband Allen insisted I use mine every so often so that I could always have good credit.

And to this day, I carry very little cash. When I go into a restaurant or a small business, I pay cash.

For everything else...that plastic card is slid into the place where it checks to see if my card is usable.

Time was when it wasn't done electronically. When we had our toy store, we had an enormous thick book about the size of our Yellow Pages, and we had to check the number by looking.

I never told my husband Allen that I couldn't see such close print so I made a pretense of looking...then I accepted.

It worked! Never did we stumble on an over-extended card.

Some customers asked if we would give them the 4 percent discount if they paid cash.

It didn't matter to us...we agreed.

I just love my credit card and if you're in a pinch the ATM machines.

It's done much harm...but much good! You gotta weigh the card or the person using the card.

window treatment

When I was in Pennsylvania we called them Venetian Blinds...do they still make them. Haven't seen them in years!


When I moved to Florida, it all had verticals...the thing to do...and so easy to keep clean.

Except for the folks who still wanted their drapes and curtains, which really makes a house a home...warm and cozy!

Which makes me remember how difficult it was for my Mother when I was a little girl.

For those who remember the wooden curtain stretchers in the 30's The stretcher had very sharp pins around the edges to hold the curtains while they dried. They were adjustable with metal clamps that secured the ruler-like frame


How hard housekeeping was in those days. How easy everything is today.

If you don't feel like vacuuming...buy yourself a little robot that runs around your house all day picking up dust.

It's a different time. Better? I dunno!!!

The Reward!

If you were very good in school, you had the honored privilege of dusting the chalk erasers outside. Now this task wasn't delegated to just anybody...you had to be on your teacher's 'best side' to be allocated this job.

I never got to do it! Could that be why all of my life I have suffered from low esteem. Sometimes the teacher didn't even bother with her big eraser...she just used the heel of her hand.

When she was in a hurry or bad mood, she'd let the chalk screech...and that's a musical note like none other.

I'll never know the answers to that. Do they still use chalk...or do they use markers now....not on a blackboard, but a green board.

Another usta=was thing in my imagination!

lazy days on the front porch

One of the favorite pieces of furniture when I was growing up was our glider on the front porch. More interesting conversations took place there and that is the spot where we were able to feel complete happiness and delight with the world.

We would swing back and forth, either alone or with a member of our family and we would just enjoy.

My Sister and I bought song sheets at the 5 & 10, about 20 all different colored sheets...and with our girlfriends we would sing by the hour.

Now that I think about it, it's a wonder the neighbors didn't complain. I'm sure that it couldn't have been that enjoyable to them....hearing silly girls giggling and singing.

We really knew every lyric to every song. This is how we spent the depression years...sipping lemonade and singing ballads. One day a boy came a callin' and we were just sitting on the glider talking and laughing. Somebody's mother sewed me a broom stick skirt that was just the rage. I was about 16 and I was all dressed up entertaining on my glider.

I got up to serve him a glass of lemonade and when I got up, little did I realize he was sitting on part of my skirt...so as I arose, the skirt just slid down and I was in my panties.

I was too embarrassed to come out again. Eventually he left...probably giggling!

How I long for my glider sometimes. When nighttime came, it never occurred to us to turn on the porchlight. We just sat in the dark and rocked back and forth. People took walks and neighbors would stop in and swing on the glider.

That was an era gone by....but the memory lingers on.

It's a living breathing thing!

A salamander was running alongside the top of my fence on my patio. I believe I sat about half an hour watching this tiny specimen creature, one of God's creations.

A little red thing would energize every couple of seconds from his throat area and I didn't know if it was his breathing, catching bugs, or a sexual thing.

One thing I do know! It reminded me of how a dynasaur must have looked a billion years ago except a lot diminished in size.

Is this part of the reptile family? Is it a bug? Whatever, he was so cute that I would never dare deliberately take him out of this world. Some people refer to them as geicos...others as lizards.

Little children when they visit from the north want to take them home with them...but I explain that it's a tropical creature.

Some people meditate...others do yoga. Me...I watch salamanders.

It was like magic!

When we first moved to our little villa here in Florida, my first big amazement was that the drawers in the kitchen and bathroom didn't just pull out...they were on sliders and they were not just effortless...but they just slid!

Then we bought a bedroom suite, including two night stands, a chest of drawers and a triple dresser....and the beauty was all the wonderful sliding drawers.

To this day, I still find it so fantastic.

In New Kensington, Pa., we had drawers that just pulled in and out but had no gliders......I suppose I should say the next joy was owning a dishwasher. Didn't have one before. Nor did we have a garbage disposal. And to do laundry I had to drag the laundry basket up and down the basement stairs.

Here I just move my body a few steps and my beautiful washer and dryer are waiting for me.

And the first thing in the morning the sunlight would beam in and radiate the living room through the cathedral windows...and it was like a million volt bult lighting our house.

We felt like we were living in a little mansion. This is not to say we didn't have a lovely 'other house', but this is kinda more convenient.

I love my little postage stamp of a house. It's really too big for just me. When I waken, I can't seem to remember that I live here all alone.

You would think time would change this but time is like a kaleidoscope always changing ...and abstracions are a place tetween reality and actuality... for a few seconds I need to remember where everyone is. They're not living here...Just me...

I still feel very fortunate and know that I have a good life!

This is the culprit!

Does this sweet face look like a thief! This is Jeff and Donna's "Lucy" and she is so precious to them.


I haven't met Lucy yet but feel that I know her. She also has 3 cat siblings!

Sometime Lucy steals from the tabletop. Then she brings the opened package to Jeff and Donna like she's bestowing a gift.

You gotta laugh!

Eric in Nepal! His best friend got married!

I don't think it's too difficult to spot which one is Eric! He sent me an entire gallery of pictures and I believe he's a very good friend to have made this stupendous trip....half way around the world.

I'm proud of you, Eric.

A trip to the library!

I just love going to the library! It's actually an adventure! Why do I amble toward the 14-day books when I haven't read much of the others...just waiting in their jackets for someone to grab them.

Each book seems to be screaming..TAKE ME...TAKE ME! I'm well aware that each book has an author that spent many months selecting just the very right verb..the perfect adjective...the exact pronoun...plus weaving a story that will make the reader not want the book to end.

When I read a book, I become one with the author and I actually become one of the family members.

I'm very particular when I select a book...print can't be large...but not too small either. Must not be too many pages...hard to hold! Must not smell musty and cannot have a coffee stain on it...because G-d knows where it's been when it was being read by a previous person. Many people refer to the bathroom as the library. Don't like to think about those things when I'm in the process of taking home a book.

When I was very young, my earliest recollections about going to the library, and it was considered an event where you couldn't utter a word....and if you did...whisper under your breath.

I recall reading all the Nancy Drew Books...Tom Swift...and many of our great classics.

When I'm reading the hours fly by so swiftly and I don't even think of food.

And if it's a very passionate love scene, I can enjoy without being involved.

So...on this day when it's much too windy to go to the pool, think I'll just stroll into our library and see what I can pick up.

There have been times when I've leafed through the pages because I enjoy the author's work. Often times, they spent themselves writing the perfect book... next one is a huge disappointment.

That's why I grab 3 books, in case one doesn't work out.


What fun!

Still gotta eat don't we!

Now I know what inflation truly is and how we must allow for this naughty word.

Now I know why they say we must have 'growth' in our portfolios to allow for this.

However, I have done this .. and my mutual funds are shrinking and prices are going up.

So...I wonder how I regain a balance.

I know that if you have no home to sell...now is a wonderful time to buy!

I know that because of oil our prices on everything have escalated.

When I was a little girl and my parents were in the throngs of a great depression, my father grew a 'victory garden'. He wasn't much of a gardener...a much better machinist...so we didn't eat off the fat of the land.

I worry about younger people...how they buy milk and bread and shoes.

The 'domino effect' has undone all of us.

We will survive...we will survive!

This was written awhile ago....but it's the anniversary!!

And the Yartseit Candle is lit once again dear Allen!
In Loving Memory!
Allen dear, I recall with the tenderest of thoughts our good life together....and the way it was!


As the Yartseit Candle burns down,,, The flame triggers millions of loving memories!




The candle in the kitchen flickers and dims!
Yes, I lost my partner...my mate....my best friend.
Feb. 28, l990.

I wish he could come back back for just a little while so we could tell him how much we miss him....and love him...but maybe he knows that.

For ten years , a decade, I have lived alone........but my husband is never far from my memories and thoughts....because we shared a life together...children together....although we lost our baby girl to Tay -Sachs disease.

We had 4l years together...most of them happy....some sadness....but that's what living is all about. He was a good kind person who cherished his family..

I look at his picture...and he's smiling at me.
I have the advantage of choosing any image.... making him any age on my dresser....so he's always smiling at me ... 29 years old....and we were newly married.....and our married life was just beginning.

This generation may look at him as controlling. Not me....he just cared so very much about everything I did and thought....and he took such a big interest in my life....and this I adored.....
He even liked to go food and clothes shopping with me....helping me 'pick out'.....and it was fun!
He helped me make decisions!

George Gershwin wrote a song about this..."Someone to Watch Over Me".....and how fortunate I was to find someone to do just that....to make me feel so special..

The Jewish religion has us remember our loved ones on the anniversary of their passing....so I follow tradition...because it's ritual........but I really believe in my heart that it should be lit on our loved ones 'birth date'....to life!.

So....on this solemn occasion.....Jeff and I recall with loving memories this very important person in our lives....who lived according to the Rules.

May Your Soul Rest In Peace Dear Allen....Amen!



And these touching words came from Jeff.
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Mom

I REALLY liked your last webpage. I can't speak very eloquently about it, but it moved me deeply. Was it a "cathartic" experience for you at all?



And these wonderful words from Paul and Barbara,
Hi Aunt Hilda,

Its so hard to believe its been 10 years but when someone is always in your heart you don't think about time.You wrote a beautiful tribute to Uncle Allen and the life you shared together. He played such an important role in your life and Jeff's as well as ours. I wish Donna could have gotten to know him. It would have been so special. I loved how he took an interest in you and everyone and how he loved to make sure everyone was happy (like you). I still hear him each evening saying. H can I get you something? Waiting on you or anyone gave him such pleasure.....how happy he was to be in Florida....he was so kind.....thats why you stayed together....your kindness...your gentle way....how you loved children.....and all your love just lives on in Jeff and whether its a Yartseit candle we light once a year...its the fact that its not just once a year we think of him, but always...he is always in our heart.

Thank you for sharing your tribute.


love
bb and bo bo


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
And this from my sweet friend Elaine who very recently lost her beloeved hsband.

Dear Hilda, Thank you, thank you for sharing the most beautiful letters I have ever read. You certainly write with so much feeling, I felt as if I could have written your letter to my beloved Bill. I know you are truly a sentimental & compassionate person, and I admire you for being the "lady" you are. I feel fortunate to have met your wonderful Alan, & I know how much he must have loved & admired you too. Hilda dear, may you always remember the good times, good memories and happiness that you & Alan shared. I'm sure he was a Prince among men. Much love, Elaine



Thank you again for another wonderful piece of prose. What lovely beautiful memories you were left with to sustain you.
I hope you have not denied yourself the pleasures that you should enjoy, because your Allan would not approve of that. If you really thought about that, put him in
your place and would you want him to miss out on what is there for him to enjoy.


You have a lot of years ahead of you. Make a few adjustments and try to bring a new beginning into your life as a continuation of the good and happy life you had before.

Thank you for my new lesson. We are leaving right now to go the Morse Geriatric Home as a Volenteers. Will work on it later.
Dear Hilda, I want you to know that I expressed myself the way I did because I consider myself a good friend of yours.


nd from my dear friend Ethel....

That is just beautiful!!!
I'm sorry that Mert and Alan didn't know each other --- I think they
would have liked each other very much ---
I don't get lumps in my throat very often - but you did it, m'dear.
Thank you for sharing.
Glad to know ya... Love you...
ethel





And from my wonderful friends Ruth and Sy..who mean so very much to me!
rfs913@webtv.net (RuthandSyFagan) Date: Sun, Feb 20, 2000, 11:06pm To: hildag1@webtv.net (Hilda Gordon) Subject: Re: And the Yartseit Candle is lit once again!
I'm overwhelmed. What a beautiful tribute. No wonder the comediens didn't make you laugh.






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I can't get over it!

Jeff and Donna have spent months researching pictures that would really be meaningful for me to put on the desktop. Now when I sit at my computer, I can see bits and pieces of my life flashing by and I'm reliving the memories of all the happenings.

I haven't led such a colorful life that would make anyone envious of me...but I've had it good and I've been blessed.

Jeff searched and found pictures of his father and me together reminding me that I once led a very normal and happy life. When Allen passed, my life that was ... disappeared! Gone! A twosome became a one-some and it was all too untimely.

We thought we had a lot of time to spend together here in our little house..but it just wasn't meant to be.

Jeff found a wonderful picture of the 3 of us..Jeff in the middle with his arms around both our shoulders sitting on the sofa.

I do not take these photos lightly...and I respect them every single day...and I'm so glad that Jeff took the time to do this for his mom.

Paul and Barbara when they were here at Chanukah gave me a digital frame...and it too houses pictures that I recall with such love and emotion. It gives me such a joyous feeling seeing all the people that I really care about and that given such meaning to my life.

Thank you, my children, for all that you do for me. I really do appreciate.

Jeff, I know how much work and effort you put into this project..and I just can't get over it.

Sipping my coffee and thinking!

It's hard for me to accept the fact that I'm fortunate enough to live in one of the best spots in our country.

People love to come here during the winter months just to keep warm.

Is this a good thing?? It all depends on what side of the counter you're on.

When we had a business, I would have welcomed them with open arms...maybe ran outside to lure them in.

Now that I'm a customer, it's a whole different situation. I like when they're gone. I like when the roads are empty. I love going to a restaurant and not waiting in line...prices on everything automatically goes up in the winter.

I guess it's called 'supply and demand'.

Am I being selfish? Do I want the sun all to myself? Do I, as the Jefferson's on TV used to say...or do I just want my piece of the pie.

Bottom line is...I wait till Easter and Passover...and then as if by magic...they've flown the coup.

Is this a narrow way of thinking? Yes, definitely, but I get my old Florida back.

I like old books...BUT

If you were asked to choose what book, other than the Bible, what book would you select our candidates were asked.

McCain said "Wealth of Nations" because he's been criticized by many for being wEAK in the economy.

Whatever it was, that 232-year-old book, published in the same year that the 13 colonies declared their independence from England, may not be completely up to date on how “the economy of the nation and the world functions.” The financial system of Smith’s time does not bear much resemblance to the one we are stuck with. If Mr. McCain wants to understand how we got into this mess, there must be more current books that he could consult.

It's interesting that in this time of such technology that he would select such a book. I don't believe I'd like him to make my portfolio decisions. Imagine a major industry in those days had a workforce of maybe l0 for a large company.

Wonder what a blacksmith made in those days.

I find it a little strange and it baffles me..so I'll stay democratic.

What do they expect?????

I have a subscription to Rainberry Bay to see their shows. MOst of them I enjoy. Others I could live without.

It so happens that Stephanie Powers was on the Playbill and I was very excited about seeing her.

I never knew she was a vocalist. Thought she was just an actress.

When she entered the stage, she was just as lovely as I remembered her from Hart to Hart.

Seems like the years just never touched her...forever young!

She was so fantastic and I was thrilled with her selection of music...and she talked about Liz Taylor and Ava Gardner who was Julie in "Showboard".

I couldn't stop applauding...

she brought her own musicians and they didn't drown her out at all.

Two other ladies came with us.

When we got to the rear of the theatre, after the show, I said wasn't she fantastic!

One said she should have been retired and can't sing. The other said maybe if she had a different selection of songs.

What negativism! I couldn't stand it! I didn't speak at all coming home. Actually I kept thinking about it the rest of the evening and early in the morning.

They truly spoiled something for me that was truly one of the highlights of my life.

Go Figure!

Voting primary in 08

I have been paying lots of attention to our politics...who's running...who's behind...who's ahead...who's religious...who's not...who's white...who's black...who's old and who's young.

I also listened heard for content! Who is sincere and really wants to make a difference in our lives.

I've come to the conclusion that they're all sincere and basically they all want the same things for us.

But gotta narrow it down. Are we what our parents were? Are we free-thinkers that listen and digest exactly what they're promising.

And then do we remember all these things for the next 4 to 8 years?

They mean well...I know that. Is it time for a woman!!!! I really think it's not gender...but it's time for someone as smart as Hilliary...so that's where I'm placing my vote.

Hope the voting machines are more honest than they were when Gore was running with Bush. It really wasn't fair.

Oh well....lots of things can still happen!

Such a sad tale!

When I was in the first or second grade my teacher told me a story which I never forgot. And the reason it has come to my mind now is because of Kuniko.

The story is about a little Japanese boy 6 years old who now lived in American with his mother and father.

His friends called him Terry but his mother insisted he be called by his Japanese name.

One day when he was playing he had an accident. His friend knocked on his friend's mother's door and screamed...Terry Terry Timko Mushka Rimbo Berri Berri Bushkie fell in the well.

By the time he uttered up all those names...little Terry had drowned.

I guess the moral to that story was shortening a name is not all that bad.

Time to forgive!

I'm of an age where I remember World War 11 extremely well. I do have to admit that I had never heard of Pearl Harbor until we were bombed. I actually had a wonderful uncle killed in Hawaii....

Why I'm on this tangent tonight is because I had a Japanese tasting party in my home today and it was really culturally interesting.

The hostess of our party, a charming middle-aged Japanese woman who came to visit for one week.

She wanted to shop, cook and feed us for a tasting party. Some of the ladies enjoyed the food...othes didn't.

I had the pleasure of collecting the plates with soup and noodles designed to enter my trash bag.

Most of it was very good...very healthy cooking with soy and beans mixed into interesting concoctions.

We all asked Kuniko different questions about her family life and her government. She admitted that she doesn't care for the emporer. I didn't know that he is the grandson of Hiroshima.

They watch CNN in their country and she drives a 17 year old small car. Gas is $7.00 a gallon..so I guess we shouldn't complain.

Everytime we asked her something, she thanked us over and over.

It was an enlightening day..and one I want to think about for some time.

The world has become very small...very global...and I guess we're all sisters.