ON HIGH

AS A CHILD, I didn't like to ride on my father's shoulders. I can remember the sensation quite vividly, even today, some 75 years later. However, there's something fascinating about seeing people in high places. Almost always, they are men and back during the last Presidential campaign, I did a piece for the web log, entitling it "MEN IN HIGH PLACES"  with several pictures.

These 3 are new pictures of men in high places and I was proud of myself in the first post of tying it to the election by daring to say that I hoped that Barack Obama would soon be in a high place.


Well........that's when the doo-doo hit the fan and a longtime customer/friend rose up on her hind legs and commented that she was no longer going to read our blog because I had sullied it by becoming so political.


That put what I call an Edith Bunker look on my face, as I tried to grasp her point.

So of course I dropped her from the list of people to be notified. I knew her political affiliation but certainly thought she could handle hearing my personal views. It's true that nearly all of our close friends feel differently about politics than we do and it's a subject we avoid like the plague. I'm not the least bit good about defending my views and can no more debate than I can fly to the moon (that's getting to be an outdated statement, isn't it?)

As a driver, I can rarely snap such pictures these days and Mr. Bob's photographer's eye is different from my own, so it's a rare thing to add to my collection. A friend of my daughter's offered to drive me around just so I could put my camera to good use out in the world. Thank you, Laurie......such a generous idea. I may yet take you up on it.

"All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height."Casey Stengel

CARRY ON

WE USUALLY WATCH the 11 o'clock news, not usually the wisest of bedtime stories, but Mr. Bob is a news maven and I think I watch it just out of curiosity and to see what weather is predicted for tomorrow. After he toddles off to bed, I sometimes linger, usually tempted to explore the Internet. I know it's not referred to as the web because of the complexity of following thread after thread, one thing leading to another without knowing where one will end up and sated, finally turning off the computer.

 A couple of years ago I somehow ended up at the site of Barter Books in Northumberland, England  and was beguiled by the poster which seemed a perfect thing to remind Mr. Bob to chill out when he slipped into a state of agitation. The story of the motto's history was interesting and it seemed an obscure discovery. With the ease that the internet provides, I quickly ordered a copy of it before turning in for the night. 


When it arrived we oohed and aahed over it, before putting the poster aside as is our habit, planning to do something with it when we got around to it. Now, two years later, the motto is appearing for sale in catalogue after catalog. Hardly an unusual thing anymore, it's become a cliché. Did I still want to carry through with my original intent of framing it? Or had procrastination been my enemy? I decided that it was still pertinent to our situation.

Tim came today to do our bidding and I sent him to Aaron Brothers after calling first to see if he could use my credit card. Yes, they said, so we dispatched him, armed with measurements for the British poster and an enlarged photo taken by Mr. Bob years ago at the Reno Air Show which was featured in the news this week. Tim thought it might be poor taste to use it just now, but it had been on my to-do list long enough.

Who knew that I could show you the accomplishments with our reflections showing? The one on the left is highly appropriate for I have an appointment at the hospital at 10 a.m. tomorrow for an
ultrasound and biopsy. I'm doing my best to keep calm and there's nothing for it except to carry on. Damn!

“Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.”

Michael Caine

ALOHA

PARADISE...........or so some folks say, not taking into account the cockroaches, including the flying variety or ........... well, maybe there's nothing else to detract from the Hawaiian Islands. We've traveled there four times and I'm still not altogether sure where it falls in my ratings of places to go. I do remember that one of the times I felt the greatest sense of peace was while riding across the island of Oahu, past the pineapple plantations......the wide horizon showing blue, blue skies and fluffy white clouds, with Hawaiian music playing on the car's radio. The Dole Plantation was where I learned that a little bit of salt on diced pineapple enhances the flavor. Another treasured recall involves the visit to an old, old church in Haleiwa (I think) for Sunday services and as the choir filed in, the sound of flip-flops. So the memories are good. If Trader Joe's would play Hawaiian music as background, I'd be tempted to clear the shelves into my shopping cart. It's a good thing that they don't often use that musical selection.

I've told you before about the time I sent Bob on the island tour and I stayed on the ship and sketched Lahaina from the deck.

Where I'm headed is to tell you that the other evening, the Manor had a luau and I came to the realization that I didn't have anything vaguely Hawaiian or even floral to wear. Almost all of the other residents rose to the occasion and were dressed appropriately. Even Mr. Bob had a closet full of Hawaiian shirts from which to choose. These days he's happiest when he's in the dining room interacting with other people.





After a tropical dinner full of pineapple, pork, coconut shrimp and even coconut ice cream, it was time for the entertainment. I went to our room for something, got caught up with my knitting and never went back but Mr. Bob found a seat in the main lounge and readied his camera to capture the event for the Manor Album.

The contrast between the beautiful, smooth-skinned young ladies and the wrinkled,
wizened, bent-out-of-shape oldsters is remarkable. I wonder if that's part of the reason the idea of knitting was so tempting?

Residents were called up to take part in the hula. Mr. Bob didn't volunteer for that event, but sat there and snapped and snapped some more, while four floors up, I knitted and purled up a tropical storm.

"Hawaii can be heaven and it can be hell." 

                                                                                                       Jeff Goldblum 

FRIENDS INDEED

WE HAVE SOME FRIENDS and you've met them in these pages. Diane and her husband, Roger, are people we've known for over 20 years. We keep in touch by meeting for a meal every week, one of the best ways to keep a friendship alive and nurtured. It used to be dinner at 4 on Friday afternoons, an unusually early hour but one that assured being seated without a wait. I named it The Twilight Supper Club. If you've been reading this blog for years (It used to be named The Retired Printer and the Bookseller before it went belly up due to corruption.....the computer kind), you'll remember when we decided to visit all the restaurants in the area alphabetically. It took us a year and a half, but we did it and learned a lot in the process. For a while we set ourselves the challenge of setting the self timer to photograph all of us. One of the rules was that we had to get the name of the restaurant into the picture. It was fun at the time; and later too much of a hassle.

I started out this morning to tell you of my Saturday morning adventure yesterday, but the blog has a mind of its own and it decided to take a different direction. It's sort of nice to know what I'm going to write about tomorrow and that's rarely the case.

We get together with Diane and Roger on holidays, too, often including Tim and our mutual friend, Fiona. I've known her for nearly 50 years starting when Tim was in the stroller and we used to stand outside her antique shop and watch her change her display windows. I wouldn't take a baby into the store, so she and I corresponded up a storm even though we lived within walking distance. She's the one who talked me into opening a bookshop. I did, ran it for 37 years, sold it 8 years ago and Fiona is still running her antique shop. She's what's known as a better man than I.

I'm not quite as militant as I used to be about getting the group together for a photo and then I'm sorry afterward, because the collection that we do have tells a continuing story. I must get back to doing that. It's worth the effort.

Roger, has had a couple of years dealing with serious health problems......remember when we celebrated last Thanksgiving in the hospital cafeteria and he and Mr.Bob were in physical therapy at the same time? He's doing very well now, able to continue working. He's the one who taught me most of what I know about working on the computer, he being a doctor of computer science.

And Diane is a fiber artist who has written a wonderful book, now out of print and currently is teaching a needlepoint class in her home. I'll tell you a little about their home tomorrow. It's a splendid place and why we're so lucky to have these people as friends, I'll never quite understand. But I give thanks and more thanks as time goes by.

Time to say goodbye to these two friends and God willing, I'll tell you more tomorrow.

"Books and friends should be few but good."

GUESSING GAME

GUESS WHICH ONE of us is dealing the more gracefully with the situation at hand.

Mr. Bob always appears to be sitting next to a tall, ample spouse when we have our picture taken together. He's taller than I am by 5 inches, but evidently has longer legs. Once, years ago, we tried to correct it by instructing him to sit tall, while I scrunched down. Later our son pointed out that in that particular photo Mr. Bob's feet weren't even touching the ground.

The medical report is that he's feeling quite fine, in good spirits, with a healthy appetite, and not nearly the tendency to nap frequently that he had before all this. Let's hear it for oxygen!!!

“What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life”

Emil Brunner

VOLUNTEER

I MENTIONED YESTERDAY that I no longer can take photographs while driving, now that I'm the driver. There are exceptions once in a great while.

The red light was long enough the other day that I could feverishly whip my little camera out of my purse and snap this before the light turned green.

It made me very happy to capture a volunteer snapdragon growing blithely in the median strip near a busy intersection. God in action.

ATTITUDES

Violeta, browsing through the new Staff Directory

YESTERDAY we unveiled the Staff Directory that we've been compiling for the past five weeks. On our part, it's been a labor of love as we've been privileged to meet each of 100 people who take care of us here at the Manor, plus a handful of other people who are part of our daily lives without actually being employees of the facility in which we live.

Of each individual we asked 7 questions, putting the answers on the lower half of a notebook page, with a picture of the employee above. Always we took several photos, letting the subject choose the one to use. Nearly everyone was not only highly cooperative but also pleased to be a part of the project. However, one individual couldn't seem to find the time and kept putting it off until later. Near the end of our venture, this person found ten minutes for us and okayed one of the several pictures we took. Mission accomplished, or so we thought.

Today, we were told that she didn't like the picture. I suggested that perhaps she'd like to bring a more acceptable image and I removed the one that we'd used.

Two hours later, one of the maintenance men who has worked here for 23 years, came to me to tell of his delight with the directory. He said that in all those years no one had thought of the importance of compiling such a book and he thanked me with warm words and a big hug.

Now I know full well that it's impossible to please everyone and I've often wondered why I tend to grant negativity greater power than all the good and positive things that happen.

I'm going to try to break that pattern in my thinking and remember my intent in putting together this directory. I wanted to recognize and honor these hardworking individuals and I thought it would help residents to get to know these dedicated helpers who are guiding us through our latter years. It's much larger than just a pretty picture. With that said, I'm stepping down from my soapbox and going to bed.