It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

Thank you, Charles Dickens.

Yes, it was sad to say goodbye to Aunt Lorraine in Fall River. (She was 94 years young.) But the services were uplifting, celebrating Lorraine's life. When her husband passed away in his early 50s, she was left with 4 children and a clothing factory to run. She took on all challenges with humor and grace. Her volunteering and good deeds were enumerated and we realized that many people loved her, not just us. Rest in peace.

And it was "Hats Off to Lorraine," which was a sweet remembrance of her.




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Last Thursday I went to hear the a cappella singing by a UMass group called Wicked Pitch. I managed to get a video of a few seconds of their singing -- but the picture is upside down! And I don't think it will let me post it here.

Afterward, there was a program on The Black Cats which was a World War I group of ambulance drivers. A little over half of them were "Amherst College Boys."  They were sent on a ship to France and when they got there, they had to assemble the Model T Ford ambulances that they brought with them (in pieces). Jim Hamilton (also a graduate of Amherst College) gave a very engaging presentation. His grandfather, Hugh Hamilton, had been a Black Cat. Mr. Hamilton has written a book on The Black Cats after doing extensive research.

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And we had Halloween!

Brownie (above) was not at all happy with his costume, but he greeted me with his usual exuberance. The Ameen-McCabes were nice enough to let me 'help' give out candy so I only had to answer the door half of the time. Jon was supposed to be playing creepy music on their electric piano (it sounded like an organ), but the kids weren't impressed at all. We had a lot fewer kids than usual and I was surprised.

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And now for the joyous part of our reporting:

Matron of Honor, Big Sister Julie

Flower Girl, Vera, daughter of Julie and David

Here Comes the Bride!

Tomi (MOB) and David (FOB)

I was so thrilled that Tomi invited me! I had a great time. The service was at Grace Church (where the girls and I attended for many years) and the dinner was at the Lord Jeffery Amherst Inn. Although I think they recently changed the name to the Inn at Boltwood. 

Some of the residents have become squeamish because it's rumored that Lord Jeffery Amherst tried to eradicate the local Native Americans by giving them smallpox infected blankets. He was the British commanding general during the French and Indian war, and there was a smallpox epidemic among the Indians. But it's not known if he personally handed out blankets, condoned the practice, or the epidemic was started by a sick soldier. At any rate, some current people want to drop the name of Amherst altogether. 

"The town of Amherst, Massachusetts, was named for Lord Jeff even before he became a Lord. Amherst College was later named after the town. It is said the local inhabitants who formed the town preferred another name, Norwottuck, after the Indians whose land it had been; the colonial governor substituted his choice for theirs. Frank Prentice Rand, in his book, The Village of Amherst: A Landmark of Light[Amherst, MA: Amherst Historical Society, 1958], says that at the time of the naming, Amherst was "the most glamorous military hero in the New World. ... ...the name was so obvious in 1759 as to be almost inevitable." [p. 15]" From Wikipedia

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We finally got some sun today after what seemed like many days of rain. It's currently 33.3 F. at 9:12 p.m. Yes, Mom, I have a sweater on.  I even put the heat up to 66, lol. 

Well, I have to put batteries in the bedroom universal remote. I sure hope that works! I couldn't shut the TV off at all. I had to use the TV remote. Oh, the angst!

Cheers! Have a great week.

October 17 is National Pasta Day!

And I know that is true because Sandra Boynton told me so on FaceBook. I am celebrating by not eating pasta, but if Mom has some, she may give me a bite. Evil grin.

As usual, I am not up to date on posting, but that's the great thing about pictures: they don't get stale. So here's my semi random collection ...

Last Friday, I bemusedly watched the clouds rolling in. This was the morning and clouds have produced no rain so many times, I didn't think much of the clouds. However, by late evening, the downpour began. I have never seen it rain so hard here and at the end of a very fierce lightning storm, Palm Springs had accumulated almost one inch of rain. (Last year, they had 1.42 inches of rain for the whole year, but that is still drought conditions.)

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Lee Anne is back from her stint as a guest at a wedding so we played pickle ball last night. We like it when the sun goes down. Last night it was very colorful. 

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On Sunday, Mom and I went to see the Crawling Babies, which are an outdoor installation opposite the Palm Springs Art Museum. The Babies are by Cerny.

The Babies don't have faces, it's a vertical bar code which is part of the artist's comment on dehumanization.

Main entrance to the Palm Springs Art Museum, with my back to the fence surrounding the Crawling Babies. (We enter from the right where there is a ramp and elevator to the main floor.)

Before we went in, the PS Water company took our picture and gave us free reusable water bottles!

And, much to my delight, the ongoing glass sculpture exhibit had changed!

This was my favorite.

For some reason, I see this as a portrait of the artist's mother when her mother was a young girl. I really like it.

I also love baskets. I can imagine the woman laboring to make these exquisite baskets.

This "basket" below is huge -- about 8 feet top to bottom. (Is that two radii?) It is made up entirely of crushed soda and beer cans. 

Stupidly, I saw the heading "Basket" on the wall caption and thought it did not pertain to this. So I have no information. But it's quite a sight!


Below is another favorite. I sat on a bench with Mom and we just gazed at it for a long time. It's all hand woven. How was that done? To me it's a masterpiece and reminds me of my favorite Dali melting clocks.

I'm not a big fan of Dale Chilhuly's later works such as this one on the bottom of the picture -- it reminds me too much of snakes. (I do like his flowers on the Bellagio ceiling though.) Anyway, I posted this picture so Lee Anne can see the yellow wall thing on the top left. It doesn't move, but as you move an optical illusion makes you think the squares have moved. (Remember, if you click on the picture, it will enlarge.)

These guys always mystify me. Maybe one day I'll find the explanatory card ...

Finally, I have a really bad picture for you, but it's an object that I love.

It's in the Modernism section. Now I have to go back and get a better picture. I have a lot more pictures, but this process of uploading them is tedious. And Mom needs her computer. 

Ciao! Have a great week!

Sunnylands

Sunnylands, the Annenberg Trust. We did not have tickets for the mansion/art museum, but the gardens (below) were wonderful. There were many benches so we took our time.

"We are not a botanical garden, you are supposed to feel as if you are in a painting." ~ /Sunnylands docent.

Nope, not going to linger here whether there's a performance or not!

There's a bee in here somewhere.

Labyrinth

On the move.

This water was one of many 'streams' which provided lovely water music.

This wall in the great room is made of stone squares. From the movie, there is a similar wall in the mansion. Many of the walls there are covered with priceless paintings, i.e., Monet, Van Gogh, Gaugin, etc.

These animals are made from flip flops by women in Kenya.

I took this picture for Sharon -- didn't think they would survive in my suitcase.

6:23 a.m.

It was 6:23 a.m. when I first saw him.  I was looking out of my bedroom window waiting for the sun to turn the mountains from pink to gold  at sunrise. Movement near the pool caught my eye and it was then that I saw him. It was a full grown coyote who headed to the other street. He came back soon and sniffed around the house across from Mom's. Later on, he zipped by my window and he was about eight feet away from me. Obviously, he was making a grid search. My friend and neighbor, LeeAnne saw him too and she had her camera ready. (Photos courtesy of LeeAnne Wilson)

Yup, he was successful. It appears that there is one less bunny in the neighborhood. These are jack rabbits which have longer, more stickiuppi ears than Amherst bunnies. They seem to be leaner too -- maybe from running away from coyotes.

If you noticed the big brown patch on the grass, it's because they are scalping the grass right now. Yep, they take off the whole top layer (scalping) and then they re-plant the winter grass.

The city of Palm Springs is spraying for mosquitoes every morning until 8 a.m. all week. I wish they would spray for crickets. We have so many coming into the house that I'm looking up recipes for cooked crickets.

And, apparently, yesterday began the "We Are Going to Trim EVERYTHING with Chain Saws" Week for the private landscaping companies. The noise begins at 8 a.m. and continues forever. Or at least for a long time.

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You know, I try to be open to new concepts and 'think young.'  But I have to confess that I went back and changed "AM" to "a.m.". It just didn't look right. Just as I date myself by putting two spaces after a period (before a new sentence), I also persist in spelling "theatre." Some things are just comfortable.

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More in the adventures of pickle ball. After nearly dying in the heat of full sun, LeeAnne and I got smart and went out at 5 p.m. last night and it was GREAT playing in shade! We're getting better although we still have lots of graceful, but misses by a mile, episodes. It's fun and we sure are moving! I have to let a lot of the balls go by because even though it's smaller than a tennis court, I'm not up to racing to the opposite side. I consider it as a way for LeeAnne to improve her aim by hitting it to me. We get really excited when we get a volley going. Hey! It keeps us off the street!

Mom looked at me as if I were crazy when I asked if I could use her walker. It has great storage under the seat for the paddles, balls, water bottles, and key to the courts. (I also figured if I collapsed, LeeAnne could push me home, but don't tell LeeAnne I said that!)

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Speaking of Mom, she is doing really well, thank you very much. No more fluid in her lungs, no more partially collapsed lung, no more shortness of breath, and yesterday her oxygen level was great! (We have a little gizmo that you put on your finger and it measures your oxygen level.)

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I'm getting weary of political ads. Here, they seem to be employing the Trump School of Name Calling. There are two different ads calling opponents crooks and one woman called someone else a snake. None of these candidates are running ads for what they stand for, what their ideas are -- they just slam the opponent for being a crook. I don't know why the one who says the other guy stole $300,000 of public money isn't sued for slander. Is there proof? If so, why isn't the guy in jail? So many questions, so few answers.

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I am being hounded by an 800 number on my phone. It's a recording telling me that I have a problem with my Apple products. I don't have any Apple products and even though I have blocked this number I still have at least one call per day from them. Originally, I had six (or more) calls. I just don't know why they can still get through.

Meanwhile, Mom's computer is infected with something -- she's getting a million popup ads. I downloaded AdAware and that hasn't helped a bit. Some of the most persistent popups are from Google and says to go to 'myinboxmanager' or some such thing, but I'm afraid it will make matters worse.

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Gas prices here are hovering around $3.79/gallon vs. an average of $2.80/gallon in Massachusetts. Guess it's a good thing we're not going on any long road trips. 

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No luck in the volunteering at the art museum -- their docent program won't be taking applicants until 2020! And they want me to become a member to volunteer (in the gift shop or ? sweeping up?).

So the search continues.

At some point, my search for a volunteering position led some search engine to think I was looking for work and they keep dangling a TSO position in front of me. (Transportation Security Officer) The requirements are high school, citizenship, background check, not in past due debt of $7500 or more. The pay ranges from $17 to $25. 

These are the people that gave me a full body pat down in Hartford. It was a little embarrassing, but I don't think if they had had more education that would have lessened my discomfort. 

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I made macadamia nut bark (chocolate) this a.m. I used Swerve instead of sugar. Yum!

Cheers!

Saturday, Sept. 8 Is Go to Phyllis' House Day

Hear ye, hear ye. Saturday, September 8, please go to 197 Pondview Drive between 8:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to see Phyllis' tag sale. I know she would like it if you buy something too!

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Nothing much to report. Although last night, I did go to see Linefork. This was a movie about Lee Sexton, renowned banjo player, who lives in Linefork, Kentucky. It was a very interesting documentary, but the style was totally new to me. The movie began with two and a half minutes of looking down at a moving train made up of a zillion empty coal cars. That was followed by some minutes of looking at trees. Then a river. You get the idea. I expanded my horizons last night.

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I have been wrestling with my sewing machine. At the moment, we are at a draw, but I shall conquer! I have taken it apart -- and put it back together again. I only have one more hurdle which is how to lower the feed dogs, and then I should be in business. I'm kind of frustrated because I really wanted to just sit down and sew and I have had to tinker with the machine. Bah humbug! So I started another wall hanging. I have to give myself time to get over my mad (at the machine) and proceed logically.  :)

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I have also done battle with my health insurance provider and Medicare. That's a work in progress, but as of today, there were three (count 'em three) people working on this one measely doctor's bill from June that they never billed correctly. Sigh.

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Then (but wait, there's more) I had asked online for information about solar. He made an appointment to give me "numbers" about solar for my house. He called yesterday at 3 p.m. as he said he would. He shares his computer screen with me and he's showing me an aerial shot of my house. I'm looking at it as he's chattering away and I finally said, 'That doesn't look like my house.'  He has the right address but they (the numbers guys) gave him my neighbor's house. So he had to call them and 'expedite' a new print out. (Is that a verbal boot up the ass?) Well, gollee gee, the sun exposure was the same! Who'd a thunk it? Meanwhile, obviously the configuration of the house was different, making the roof different.

Then the guy asks me what 'look' -- what configuration -- of solar panels I wanted. He didn't get it: just tell me how much I'm projected to save per month on the electric bill! He starts rattling off about 23 cents per kwh, blah, blah, blah. I finally said, 'I don't care how many kwh I use, what is the monthly saving?'

Finally, I get some figures after a lot more blather. If I rent the solar equipment, no money down, no cost for the equipment -- I'll save $10/month and after 20 years it will increase by 2% or more depending upon the prime rate.  If I buy the equipment (no cost quoted), I'll save $20/month.

At that point, I said I wasn't interested and he said (slightly hysterically), "You'll save over $11,000 over 20 years!!" Now this guy addressed me as "Tina" right from the get go. And when I asked salient questions, he seemed to snap to and maybe think I was younger than I am.  Because in reality, I'm not doing any planning for 20 years from now.

Then he followed up with an email. I'm sure he thought the line, "You have to get your electricity from somewhere!" would put me right over the top and I'd call him up begging for the name of an installer. Certainly I would want two or three guys banging and hammering on my roof and dropping nails for me to step on to install that stuff.

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Being a poll worker was kind of fun. I left "early" at 9:30 p.m. (I started at 4 p.m.) Next time I'll bring a supper. I had thought a big lunch at 2 p.m. would suffice. It didn't.

Most people who were voting were nice. But there were some who were incensed when their name wasn't on our list. They were unenrolled. It says quite clearly on the census form if you do not fill it out and return it, you may become unenrolled. Those people just had to show an i.d. with their address and they could vote.

Speaking of paperwork: I got a notice to be a juror. Luckily, they let you postpone it, so I postponed it to next June. Apparently, after age 70, I can opt out. But I don't think I would do that. After all, I don't have to report to work, so I might as well do my civic duty.

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Emily and I are getting excited about our trip to Cape Charles, Virginia next week. Of course, we don't know how baby Jay will react to such a long trip. I think I'm going to get some soothing music CDs in addition to our favorite mysteries on CD. I wonder if he likes Swan Lake?

Cheers!