Original thoughts brought back!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

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....

Can't wait till I can buy Lego for Shane and Ryan's little unborn son

Thoughts from Hilda

hildag3@gmail.com...it would be nice to know someone reads it I would be thrilled to hear your comments. Thanks

Sunday, May 13, 2007

This helped to pay our rent!

This is a Lego brick. My husband Allen and I had a toy store in New Kensington, Pa. I would say that about 25%

of our store was allocated to Lego...motorized and manuel. We carried a complete line, in fact, the only toy we ordered direct from the manufacturer...and it was made by the Samsonite people.

One brick fit inside the other and a child's imagination could conquer anything he wanted to create.

People would walk into our store and say....I have a 6 year old who has no attention span, although he's brilliant. What would you recommend I buy him.

We were considered the specialists. That's why they came to us instead of K-Mart. We gave individual attention even though our prices were competitive.

Well, we ushered them right to Lego...and weeks later, that same customer would return just to give us rave revues.

Actually we were such a good customer that the Lego People put a big motorized windmill in our big front window. It almost caused accidents.

People did a double take....was that really moving around???

Downtown Orlando has a massive building called Legoland....and it's really magical.

All this was a long time ago, in my life, but the memories are all so very clear.

I just loved that part of my life ... making kids happy~

Beautiful A1A

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Beautiful A1A

 

My husband Allen only had 2 years of living in Florida. He loved it...but he particularly adored driving on A1A. He called it the never-ending garden..but this was his particular spot. If you've driven north...you've gone through this bountilfullness. There's no such word..but it's a lushness that spreads across the top of the road.

We would drive to Manalapan for an ice cream cone. We would window-shop the beautiful windows of the stores...and then we would feast.

Now that I have a GPS...I must drive up there once again.

Another repeat...I'm getting lazy

Sunday, February 8, 2009

We Buy Ugly Homes

Was it just about a year and a half ago that we would see billboards all over the highway...we buy ugly houses.

Well, now I would expect a sign to read....we'll even buy beautiful homes for very little money.

But no....these signs are non-existent...because times have changed. Yep. it all started with the housing market.

Everybody'sgreat American dream...homeowner. But who can blame. We all like to have a covering over our heads.

They made it so easy to own a home...no down payment....no nothing...just interest. That sounds so great.

But now our country is in doldrums. Banks have run out of operating capital...and they're not really interested in owning homes..that's not their business.

Maybe if I was young and had some available cash...I would fall for some of these schemes....but I'm too old to even consider for a second.

Obama has surrounded himself with some of the best heads in the country.

Can they come up with a solution...or do they know just as much as you and I.

I'm glad I own my little villa here in High Point...I have no debt. Thank G0d.

I pray every night that the unemployed with find jobs...that's so humiliating...and frustrating...and makes a person lose confidence in himself.

I would like to set the calendar back to the 90's when technology doubled and tripled our portfolios.

I guess just plain old greed got in the way...and I'm part of it. What would really make my day is to see a giant billboard.....WE buy Ugly Houses. I often wondered what an ugly house is...was the kitchen where the bathroom should be...were the stairs in the wrong place leading to nowhere. Did they still have coal burning stoves....did they have ice boxes instead of refrigerator.....rabbit ears on their tv...if they had tv.

Did you have to go thru one room to get to another one. Was it painted bright purple? What could make it so ugly. Anyway...I want to see that billboard one again...and then I'll know that times are stable.

I'm repeating myself!

Monday, December 2, 2013

Replaying in my head!

Hiding from one's shadow is an impossible task...as hard as  trying to escape from one's thoughts, being as they're not channeled in any particular direction, but floating uncontrollably out into the world, only to be thought by me. 

Shadows and thoughts are a part of us that have  nothing to do with one another, except they're attached to us.   Memories may fade and shadows may alter, but they're always there.   My thoughts have been taking over my subconscious making me aware of how many people used to be an active part of my life.

Little by little, as I age, I'm losing my friendships.  These ladies have moved into retirement homes to be cared for...having  their meals cooked and served to them,  and reminding them to take their medications, and making sure they're using their  walkers, canes or wheel chairs.

My innermost thoughts are always there, swaying  and crawling to a place that only I can reach, and  enhancing  images in my mind that tend to enter and leave at random.....   coming and going on and on!

I can no more control what I'm thinking than I can of breathing.

Was it always this way, or am I just by myself so much that I'm living within my consciousness.

Am I reliving my life to make sure I remember, or these so-called thoughts just keep tumbling out, causing me to have too much time and not enough to occupy me.

Now it's time for me to take charge and get rid of all this foolishness.    Yes, indeed I can, and I will!    I'm enrolling at our Palm Beach Public Library, where they're offering a course helping seniors cast their hand at creative writing.

This way, I can focus on what's really important to keep my memories alive.

 I'll take a few of my blogs to be shown the way to improve my writing so  more people might want to visit my site..

 My blog is about my best friend.   I confide all kinds of quirky things about me in it and I do laugh at my own shortcomings.

My grown-up children have no idea what they created.

Can't take credit for this one

This was sent to me by my dear friend Ethel Wainer....and how true...and how I relate.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks.

This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling's. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right.

We didn't have the green thing in our day. Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-ass young person.

My fever running Shane Boy!

I just had a conversation with my nephew Paul and he told me that Shane was taken to the hospital on Tuesday with a very high fever with seizures.    My body underwent a series of heartbreak for my darling little boy.  Just the night before, I was skyping with him and he was fine.


Shane's home again but he's still running a high fever which is common in pre school children.  Becky, him mom is a pediatrician which makes me feel better.   She knows what to do.


And all this brought back a memory of  Jeff when he was about 3 years old.   He was running 105 degrees and he was admitted to the hospital.   We never did find out what was wrong with him but he was mighty sick.   I remember his coming into our bedroom to say  the sky was falling on his feet.   He didn't know how to say he was dizzy.


This was such a bad time in our lives.  We knew our baby was terminal and we rushed her up to Allen's mother to baby sit while we took our other child to the hospital.   During that same day she phoned and said the baby was crying and we had to get her because my father in law was recooperating from a heart attack.

Where to go first.   Jeffy did not want me to leave him.   I recall the nurse asking him if he had pooped that day and he didn't understand what she was talking about.   That's not what we called it.


We were a little more baby sophisticated.


Anyway, the fever passed and all was well.....for a little while.   We still had our sick baby and that you don't get over.


And now here I am at this old age remembering....

Beware of Hilda

 The news the last 3 days has been about how inefficient the Secret Service is.   Nine different ways they should have been warned about the intruder who was after The First Family. 


The man who jumped the White House fence this month and sprinted through the front door made it much farther into the building than previously known, overpowering one Secret Service officer and running through much of the main floor, according to three people familiar with the incident.


An alarm box near the front entrance of the White House designed to alert guards to an intruder had been muted at what officers believed was a request of the usher’s office, said a Secret Service official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.


Last January I entered an area to board a cruise ship....my friends were admitted but me they detained.
 
They made me spread my legs and arms....examined my entire being.  It appeared that I made a metallic sound going through.


The ringing was a metal tube of lipstick in my pocket so that I would look presentable after we had a buffet lunch.


All this fuss about a little old lady.....and President Obama could have been assassinated.


What's happened with our almighty Secret Service, or is it so secret that we don't even know.


Did I look so suspicious to the security on the cruise ship?


I dunno????


I do know one thing though....I'll always think of the Secret Service in a different light.


They flunked....gotta fix it.

It's not just about having to hem pants

I'm old!!!!   I'm very old!!!  Yep it's a fact!   I can't reach places that I used to...and just when did all this happen?


When I try to put dishes on the lower shelf I must stand on my tiptoes.  I didn't used to.


One of my big problems now happens to be my closets.   I'm having trouble hanging up and removing clothes from the clothes rod.


So finally I must admit my limitations and I hired Randy, a really nice guy who works here at Highpoint.


He's coming to adjust and lower and to make my life much easier.


When I'm no longer living here, the new people will say I think a dwarf occupied this house.


I never was tall...would have liked to have been...but  I'm happy to settle for who I am....I'm grateful for still being alive and able to write this blog.

Life's Annoyances

To be denied access to my car for  6 weeks was  a real hardship for me.    It meant having to have friends pick up food for me and some pharmacy items.


I had cataract surgery and was refused permission to drive.    Well, the time finally came and I drove just as far as Winn Dixie which is very adjacent.


While I was shopping, someone put a large sticker on my windshield, the size of a postcard, and it had adhesive on it, which meant I just couldn't just peel it off.  It was advertising.


At home, I got a razor, WD 40 and some cooking oil and worked very hard scraping, and finally it came off.


That evening when I went to use the car, the residue from all that junk was keeping me from seeing...very foggy.


It was terrible.   Anyway, next day Virginia called and asked if I minded if she used alcohol on it to take it off.  My arthritic arms don't work well.


This sweet lady has been so good to me, and I really hated to say yes, but I did, and she came right over with an old dishcloth.


The alcohol bottle I handed her was dated 2003 ... but it worked.   She rubbed very briskly and  it's shining.


She looked at my wiper blades and said they were all worn out...so I got in my car with my dazzling windshield and headed right to Auto Zone.


Now, I think I'm in pretty good shape to start our Jewish New Year.


My car's old and so am I .... what to do.... what to do!

Written in 2008 countries unheard of

day, August 10, 2008

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 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 .

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 come from China....and that's shame on us!

This was written 2 years ago...comments will have to go to hildag3@gmail.com

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Our starter-up home but we stayed over 30 years!

This is where our young-married life began...and I loved our little home. I remember carrying Jeff who was 18 months old to his own room...and telling him that this is his very own.

Well, it appears Jeff had a different idea. He wanted his crib in our room, just like it was in our little apartment.

He screamed and screamed ...and then wanted to join us in bed.

Every day I carried him and said this is Jeffy's room...all yours. Your toys are here. We have our room--you have yours.

He still cried for a month. Then Dr. Spock said you just have to let him cry...and don't give in...and finally after 4 days we had peace in the house and the bed to ourselves.

That is, until he learned to crawl out of his crib and he would go to Allen's side to get in and he was never refused.There were many times that I ended up sleeping in the crib because I couldn't sleep 3 in a double bed. Triple beds were rare in those days and it never even entered our minds.

Anyway we had big retaining walls in our driveway and in the back to hold back the 2nd terrace. The street above us was being excavated...and every night after dinner, the 3 of us would go to gather big rocks. To this day the wall is still standing.....a labor of love

.Retirement came and everyone said maybe I could buy Allen an extra couple years down in florida. No more urging...I wanted my husband to live....so we moved....and here I am.

I'm truly glad we made the move...life is so much simpler here..

Whipping at Schools

In the news tonight on all the cable stations, it was announced that whippings with a switch were illegal and the recipients were children.


What could they have done that was so horrible...talk harshly  to a teacher.   But when I went to school in the 30's, whipping boys with a rattan was a common occurance by a principal.   I believe he must have had a meaness in him....or maybe he was taught to do that in a college...or perhaps that's how his father treated him.


We could all hear the boy getting punished...screaming.   I used to shake and my stomach would make me nauseous.    It wasn't pleasant and these were my schoolmates.   But only to boys.   my heart would break and it cut into my soul. What kind of people does this.


At home, my sister and I were treated with loving kindness.


We've come a long way and that was a very long time ago...but I still remember.


And all this media publicity brings it to my mind as clearly as when it happened.   His name was Mr. Berkey and when I would see him, I saw ugliness..    Is that how he got his jollies.   I wonder if the boys who felt that strap come down on their rear ends remember how it felt....did it affect the rest of their lives.    I wonder.


I think the kind thing today is 'time out'.

Different times call for different measures

Making ready for hurricane season, I'm gazing out my bedroom window and my beautiful tree is being clipped to prevent any damage from its powerful branches, that are really trees in itself.


And I'm reminded of a poem we learned in elementary school.

The First American Environmental Protest Song? MIDI - "Woodman Spare That Tree!" MIDI files often differ in sound, depending upon your software. This is a Standard MIDI file. Woodman Spare That Tree! This may well be one of the first environmental protest songs ever written. This song was very popular for its time. "Woodman! Spare That Tree!" (1837) A Ballad The words were taken from a poem published in the New York Mirror, written by George Pope Morris, 1802-1864, The music was composed by Henry Russell, 1812-1900. 1. Woodman spare that tree! Touch not a single bough; In youth it sheltered me, And I'll protect it now; 'Twas my fore father's hand That placed it near the cot, There, woodman, let it stand, Thy axe shall harm it not! 2. That old familiar tree, Whose glory and renown Are spread o'er land and sea, And wouldst thou hack it down? Woodman, forbear thy stroke! Cut not its earth, bound ties; Oh! spare that ag-ed oak Now towering to the skies! 3. When but a idle boy I sought its grateful shade; In all their gushing joy Here, too, my sisters played. My mother kiss'd me here; My father press'd my hand-- Forgive this foolish tear, But let that old oak stand! 4. My heart-strings round thee cling, Close as thy bark, old friend! Here shall the wild-bird sing, And still thy branches bend. Old tree! the storm still brave! And, woodman, leave the spot; While I've a hand to save, Thy axe shall harm it not. This poem and song and the conservation sentiments they embodied were in fact so popular (we know of at least 12 printed editions of the sheet music), that it spawned numerous other compositions and variations based on Russell's music. For example, here is a MIDI of the "Woodman Spare That Tree Quickstep" composed by Alan Dodworth in 1848. Stay tuned for our next episode, where we will present the Woodman Spare That Tree Polka, and Variations On Woodman Spare That Tree. The poem itself was so popular, that other composers also tried their hand at creating scores for the poetry. Here is the first part of a choral composition by W. J. Wakelam composed in 1840 for the poem Woodman Spare That Tree. I am still working on transcribing the rest of this unique work. Explore the Amaranth Publishing pages.................... Explore - the world's most mysterious book, music composed by a Renaissance alchemist, the Amaranth Publishing CD collection, the oldest song in the world, the world's oldest love song, the music of the Illuminati, unique sheet music, the world's most haunting melodies, the music of the spheres, a way you can become rich if you can solve a historic cipher, a way you can compose music just like Mozart, the 19th Century American X-Files and much more.... Amaranth Publishing Home Page © Copyright 2003 - Amaranth Publishing - All Rights Reserved

I've lived a lot of decades!

Is age only a number?   People like to think that but I don't believe it's true.   I've seen brilliant friends of mine who are showing sharp signs of dementia.   I wonder if these cells ever get to be regenerated.


It's a fact of life that as we age, we lose ability.  Like me, I used to be able to hear better than I do...and when I try to adjust my hearing aids, they whistle, which annoys my friends and me included.


I've fallen a few time, so now I'm using a cane  and I feel more sure of myself.    I've also shrunk since I fell on a cruise ship 6 months ago and broke my back.


But I'm one of the very lucky ones.   I still drive and do my own shopping.   I go to dinner once or twice a week, and when I do that, I bring enough home for another meal, they give such gigantic  portions.


I still can carry on my end of a conversation and people do like to talk to me because I listen to what they have to say.   We don't talk over each other.


I'm grateful for so much...and for living in this electronic world.    Wonder what's coming next.

Back in the day, before we had refrigerators,  we had an iceman.   A home would put a card in their window informing how much ice was needed for that day.   To my recollection this information was on a diamond shaped  cardboard with various numbers listed on it, and it would point at the top to how many pounds of ice was needed for that day.


I know all the icemen had very good hearts and backs.   Ice was very heavy.  It would be carried with heavy tongs on the man's shoulders.  I wonder if he later had a bad back or arthritis.   I mention a good heart because he would cut off chips and leave it on the floor of his truck, and this, we children gobbled up.....so delicious.


Icemen became another thing of our  past when every house got an electric refrigerator.


I remember our brown icebox well and how we had to keep emptying the bottom tray as the ice melted.


Were those really the days?   Life is so much easier today for which I'm grateful.  


Our first GE Refrigerator had a  pedal on the bottom, so that if you had a handful of  food to refrigerate, you would just push down on the pedal.


This too became a thing of the past, although even today, it seems like a good idea.


We had this refrigerator after Allen and I married and new refrigerators became available again.


The memories are good....but I really like cold food.    And we don't even need ice trays because we have ice makers--100 cubes a day.

They over produced

Every year in the toy business, there was one outstanding toy that every child wants.   The year was 1983 and Coleco produced Cabbage Patch Dolls.   When Allen and I went to a toy show in Syracuse, N.Y. we saw these unusual dolls packed 6 to a case.   They didn't appeal to me at all and I remember saying to Allen, do you think we'll be able to sell 6.    I didn't know at the time that we could have sold 6,000.


Cabbage Patch became such a hit and were in high demand by every little girl.    The few that we were able to order were in high demand.   Allen tried to match the recipient's eyes with Cabbage.


These dolls came named and with a birth certificate.  When we would call a customer that we had them, Allen would put it in a big black garbage bag, so that they wouldn't getting mugged on the way home.    People called us from all over Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, begging us to take out the dolls from lay a ways...they would pay us 3 times what they were worth.


My honest husband never gouged or went one penny more than they were worth.   We had integrity.


Anyway we were able to get almost excact knock offs of this doll, but everyone turned up their nose, even though they were under $10.00..


We did get a fair amount of black Cabbage Patch, but the little black girls bulked at them...but the white kids bought them.   Taught me a lesson.


And now, needless to say, these Cabbage Patch dolls are not collective and have no value.  It was because Coleco manufactured too many instead of holding back which would have made them very desirable.


Our supplier in Syrancuse opened a store about 15 minutes from us selling cabbage patch dolls that he was stockpiled.


This was completely unethical and we never bought from them again.

Little Shane leaving infanthood!

Thanks to Eric, Becky and Skype I'm watching my darling Shane grow.   I'm seeing him develop week by week...and oh, he seems so brilliant to me.
I'd forgotten how important each day is in the growing of a baby.   He responds to everything and is so alert to the world he lives in.   This little self has captured my heart and I want such a good life for him
Memories start flooding back into my mind when Eric says..."how big is my baby"...and Shane stretches his little arms as wide as he can with a big smile on his face.    My own mother used to say that to me...and I said it to Paul and Jeff when they were infants.   Edna Ferber wrote this novel in 1924...and it's still popular, even Sesame Street uses this phrase.




He smiles constantly, happy in himself, while playing with every one of his toys...and some things that aren't his toys, like empyting the drawers with all his clothes.   Then he tries to put them on over his head.


Is this cute or not!   Eric tells him to do pushups and this little darling gets down on his tummy and actually does them.   I couldn't believe he could understand this...or manage this feat.


With a little encouragement from Becky, our Shane selects the book he wants to read and actually looks at the pictures and turns the pages.   I can just tell he's going to be an intellect.


Shane's nanny was teaching him 'sign language' and Eric stopped that in a hurry.  It appears that our little fellow was pointing to what he wanted instead of speaking.   Nanny had good intentions but it was curbing our little one's speech.


Shane got his first haircut and cried like every child does when they first have to sit in the barber chair on their mummy's laps.




As Eric was dishing out ice cream for him, he said pleeease.  He's learning manners.  Every moment is a learning experience for this little guy.




  I loved it.  I even found it very amusing when he threw a little temper tantrum  because Eric wouldn't let him open a door....and this little soul was adamant that's what he wanted.








I  watch all his antics which delights me reminding me how great my life is to be living in this time of high technology.   This little boy ended our visit by throwing kisses at me and waving bye bye.

3 generations of male love!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Paul is my sister Elayne's son...but a very special nephew to me.  His son Eric is Paul's older son....and baby Shane is Eric and Becky's baby.

How I adore and cherish my family.    They give my life real meaning and for that I am  so grateful.

We all share the same DNA!

Tons of Carbs

Once every couple of weeks, Virginia drives me to visit our friend Harriet who is in assisted living.    Most of the residents are also suffering from some sort of dementia.    I feel like a very shallow person because this is not my favorite place....maybe because I think someone might feel the need to visit me there one day.

Anyway, I cleared the date with Harriet and Virginia suggested we dine at Friendly's because they give you a free sundae at the end of your meal.

Who doesn't love ice cream??  It didn't take any convincing for me to say.....okay!

We both ordered a delicious turkey burger, with avocados and tomatoes and the bun was toasted so it wasn't at all soggy.

Along with this feast came mounds of French fried potatoes, very crisp and minus salt.  

We both went to town.  I didn't quite finish my burger or fries because, needless to say, I had to save room for my sundae.

Virginia relished her lunch as much as I did.   Then our charming waitress came over to take our order for the sundaes.    She asked if I wanted whipped cream and a maraschino cherry and I said absolutely. 

   Smart girl that she is, Virginia said no.   

Well this  picture tells it all....and I could barely reach into it, it was so high.   I ate most of the whipped cream but by the time I came to the best part, the ice cream, I was all full up.

Lesson to this....eyes are bigger than stomachs especially when one eye is scheduled for a cataract.

I'm still salivating.

fff

Don't Slam the Door!

Actually these were golden words coming out of my Mother's mouth....it meant she was baking  another delicious cake for her family of 4......   My sister and I and my father.


She was warning us that the cake would drop!


My sweet Mother happened to be a superb cook but I don't know how she managed to aborb all these recipes.  My parents married when my mother was very young and there wasn't even radio yet...my grandmother made raised yeast cakes that she learned from 'the old country' which would be Hungary.   She was only 13 when she came to this country.


My mother did own a Betty Crocker Cookbook..so is this where she learned.   I was 15 when I lost my mom and I never did ask questions about her cooking.    I just took it all for granted.


I can still salivate when I remember the taste of her lemon meringue pie--my favorite.


But I didn't love my Mother for her cooking.    I adored her because she was the nicest, sweetest person in the world who loved me unconditionally....until I met Allen, many years later.


Mom...I still miss your so much.   I hope there is a Heaven, because that's where you are.

We're not in control

The growth of our hair reveals no sensation to our bodies.  either negative or positive. 


The growth of our finger and toe nails are also devoid of any feeling as they grow.



That's how I feel about time.


   It just keeps moving forward and we know it, but can't do anything about  it.




Many times I would like to put a moment on 'hold' because it's too wonderful to let go....but that's not the way the world is created.




As I grow older every day I try to remember many decades of my life and the people who occupied this planet the same time I do.   When I light a 'remembrance candle' it bothers me that I might leave some name out.




I stand in my kitchen and rehearse in my mind all the souls that have enriched my life, and there are many...members of my family and dear friends.




I cherish all these memories because that is what my life is all about.    Even my dogs live on in my passwords and they were just precious mutts that I loved dearly.




I'm so very grateful for the time that is allotted to me.

Grateful for what is

dear friends, my children, my nephews, grandnephews, and other people who have passed through my life.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Grateful for what is

Monday, April 28, 2008

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!

How sad for my friend...depression time!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

How sad for my friend...depression time!

I was at a movie with my girlfriend Jean...and she was reading a telegram delivered to Loretta  Young...her lover was killed in the war.
And I couldn't make out the writing
I couldn't read it.   Yes, the doctor confirmed, I was near-sighted and would need glasses. 

When I got my glasses, I was so thrilled I could see the individual leaves on a tree...and not just a big green mass.

We sat in double seats in 7th Grade and I was sitting with Rosie Iozzi.   I noticed when I would copy the work from the blackboard, that she would squint and couldn't see...and had failing grades.

I didn't realize at the time that all glasses had a different prescription..so as soon as I copied the work on the board, I would hand over my glasses to her so that she could copy it into her notebook.    Well, amazingly enough, we had a pretty close fit because it worked.

So for the rest of the year, I copied my work and passed my glasses on to her.

We never complained.   After all these years, I'm not sure anything would have been done to alleviate the situation................these were dark depression years when deprived children got free milk.

My Father always worked...we were the lucky ones.   We also had help in our house.    A coalminer's  daughter would live  at our house and become one of the family.  If we went to a movie...she went.     These girls would stay with us until they married and we went to the weddings in a hall....their families were happy to have us because it was one less mouth for them to feed.  I think we paid $3.00 a week...that was the going  rate.   My mother taught these girls to be good housekeepers.    My sister and I still had to help with the dishes and make our own beds.   We had the 'good life'.

Now that I look back at  those bleak years, why oh why didn't I go to  the principal or  teacher and complain.  It never even entered my mind.   I  think I have matured since then.

Today...I'm old and smart...and  would certainly fight for the social issues of glasses.  I look back at those times and I believe that's when I learned about sharing.

I wonder  if Rose Iozzzi remembers those days...or if she's even still alive.   I'm a member of United Order of True Sisters and one of the agendas of our budget is to buy eyeglasses for needy children.

The tree in my backyard!

The tree in my backyard!

 

Musings on a dreary day in hurricane season! She sits just like a guest in her own home! 


Should be cleaning or straightening up drawers or doing paperwork,

Doing busy stuff.

She can't make up her own mind whether she's just disorganized or plain old-fashioned lazy!

In a portion of her huge bedroom, that also serves as her den, a recliner awaits her elderly body, like an eager loving mother, with both arms extended, inviting her to recline, rock or sit.

She has choices! Once this decision is made.., read a book, turn on tv or fool around with her computer... .another option is open to her... just looking out the window and viewing what the wind gusts are doing to her world. She is drawn to the latter..

Her windows, three glass panes that could bear a washing , reveal a very large tree, probably in the neighborhood Joyce Kilmer had in mind, when he wrote his famous poem, turned song. 

Although she lives in High Point, Florida now the day seems 'northerly'... bearing no usual sunshine The branches lush with leaves, but ready to let go, shed green and brown flakes snowlike, reminding her of another time and another place, blowing without direction around her sky.

The wind has taken on a life of its own now shaking all this majesty to the waiting green sandy earth below. blanketing a patch for the crawling red ants to settle, tiny salamanders bearing resemblence to huge dinosaurs of a zillion years ago when the world was young, and all the other critters that travel about. Each busy with whatever naure intended.

The only thing standing staunch and straight is the tree trunk itself, letting the branches know that it's in total control. The weatherbeaten bark showing the wear and tear of its enviroment `is displaying imperfections of algae and age In its imperfections-- there is beauty.

For the 19 years of watching this window scene, never once has she stepped foot to venture out in her backyard. And even though her spiritual philosopy is to "live and let live", she is deadly afraid of ants, snakes and wasps.

During all this activity, the birds sense change and they also flutter here and there, sometimes landing on the window sill where they peck at their own reflection. Her specially- treated windows only reveal what is happening outside.

Inside not a critter can spy on her.

As she still watches all this drama
unfold, she glimses a furry squirrel scurrying up and down the tree, defying all the laws of gravity.

A wristwatch glance makes her aware that she has spent three quarters of an hour, just "looking". And while all this entertainment has been taken place she realizes that she has been "thinking".

The thoughts have run so randomly that it's hard confirming what she was even day dreaming about. Was it the past! Was it the future...or just being, in the here and now.

It doesn't matter al all . Fact is she's found contentment within herself.

She thanks G-d for her Abundance and knows that she has been blessed in life.

At this particular moment...all is well!

taxes

Monday, March 25, 2013

taxes

Something that's been bothering me for a long time...and I don't know the answer.

Every year when I renew my property tax insurance, I have to make out the check to Anne Gannon.   Now it seems to me I should just write the insurance to tax collector...but not to someone's name.

I've lived here for 22 years and in all that time this has troubled me.   And so now...I'm finally addressing this issue.

Wonder how I can figure out this answer??????

When I pay my IRS check, I don't mail it to President Obama...or any one person in the treasury department.

-

Ruth Fagan	Apr 2 (2 days ago)
to me

 

Yes, I read your blog on taxes.  I never thought about it before.  Does she have to endorse her name on each check?  Too much to think about. - - - -

Another year has passed!

Thoughts from Hilda

These are my thoughts, during average days of my life. They're probably not of any interest to anyone other than my dear friends, my children, my nephews, grandnephews, and other people who have passed through my life.

Another year has passed!

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2008

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.
-----------------------------------------------------------
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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