Reading Between the Lines

 Richard was discharged from the army in early 1967. He enrolled in Chapman College in Orange, CA, for the fall term and spent the summer at home with his folks, which is how I met him. I had just graduated from high school and had my first job working at a branch library near the college where I was enrolled for the fall quarter. His mother worked there, and when he came in the library to see her, she introduced us.

In 1969, Richard and a friend decided to start a weekly newspaper in Orange, so he quit school to do that.

I graduated in 1971, we got married, and I finished the 5th year teaching program in 1972.  There were a glut of new teachers looking for jobs that year, and I knew finding one was going to be difficult, So, I went to work with him at the newspaper and was involved with all aspects of publishing the newspaper, including rewriting press releases, laying out the pages, and writing headlines for the articles, in addition to back shop production and even on occasion catching and tying newspaper bundles when they came off the press.

We sold the newspaper in 1979 and moved to Oregon.

I wrote all that to get to the point that we pay attention to what we see in the newspapers that are available here because we were so actively involved with putting a newspaper together for those years. And sometimes we get an eyeful. I have seen press releases announcing an event that fail to say when the event is taking place or sometimes even where it is taking place. Things like that.

Richard was looking through one of the free weekly newspapers that we get at our post office box, and it is one of the better ones, and he suddenly starts laughing…

They’re going to stash foster children in a storage unit? Really?

Of course not. As the article explains, they’ve contracted for the storage unit to keep safe personal belongings the children have to leave behind when they enter into care.

I have great respect for families that take in foster kids. My niece and her husband began caring for a baby when he was a week old. He came to them straight from the hospital, and he has been with them now for 21 months. The plan for him has always been to reunify with his parents, but there have been twists and turns along the way, and he is still with them.

 

“We truly don’t know what will happen next,” my niece writes. “His next court date is on 11/21… . We truly just cherish each day, because each day is a gift.”

 I just finished reading a novel...

about two girls in foster care who had a few good homes and then a horrific home and have to come to grips as adults with what happened to them.

The little boy might not consciously remember his time with my niece and her husband, but what they have poured into that little boy will have a long-lasting effect on him as he grows.

The Autumn Leaves

Our house is surrounded by trees of varying sizes that drop their leaves in the fall, ranging from smaller dogwoods... 

to a huge cottonwood in the front yard. That tree doesn’t figure too much in the fall leaf drop, however, because it is very drought sensitive, and by the end of July, about half of its leaves are already on the ground.

 There is a large maple tree behind the house and 2 maple trees in the front yard, 

along with a sweet gum

and a redbud. There are also quite a few oak trees farther away from the house, but they tend to hang on to their leaves through most of the winter.

I basically stopped raking the leaves in the front yard several years ago, except where they form a thick carpet on the path we walk around the house on to get to the basement. Wet leaves can be very slippery and dangerous to walk on for older folk who are already somewhat unsteady on their feet.

Every month, the Missouri Department of Conservation sends us a magazine covering a variety of topics – hunting, wildlife, efforts to restore habitats, etc.

In the most recent issue, I was pleased to read that they conclude that the fallen leaves add valuable nutrients to the soil as they break down and suggest not raking leaves unless they are very thick, which could smother the grass. 

We don’t have a proper “lawn”—one of those lovely velvet green manicured show pieces—ours is a mixture of grass and weeds (plantain, dandelion, etc) and

violets and grape hyacinth, early in the spring. 

I haven’t noticed that the leaves have had any negative effect, so I am quite happy to follow the Department of Conservation advice.

Another Trip Around the Sun

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

The carousel of time came round again and my birthday was last Monday. I suppose it would be appropriate for me to find a picture of myself as an adorable infant on my first birthday (which of course I was), but instead, I offer you a picture of me on my third birthday, which was 70 years ago (if I’ve done my math right).

This is the first birthday I remember, and not just because there was a picture of it. We were at my aunt’s house, and I was given a small fishing pole that fit in a metal canister when it was taken apart.

  Dad loved to fish, and I was happy to be able to go fishing with him with my very own pole.

I may not remember many of the intricate details of the birthdays since then or the presents I received, but those birthdays I was able to spend with my family were precious indeed.

One birthday present that is vivid in my memory was the one our son gave me possibly 12 years or so. He arranged with a local pilot to take us on a 30-minute plane ride over the countryside. The Fall colors here are not quite as spectacular as the pictures I have seen of the New England states, but flying over the patchwork of bronze, gold, rust, and scarlet of the Ozarks was just breathtaking.

I do not have much skill in decorating birthday cakes…

 But this year I didn’t have to make a cake for myself, because a lovely woman who I go to church with...

made me a beautiful layered birthday cake and brought it to the house. 

It was a memorable birthday indeed.

Senior Moment x2

Senior moment: an instance of momentary forgetfulness or confusion that is attributed to the aging process

It is easy to laugh about having a senior moment after some time has passed, but it isn’t so funny when you’re in the middle of one of these episodes and your spouse is right there with you in it.
 

Understanding that a “reasonable price” for a bell pepper now is not the same as a “reasonable price” was before inflation hit, the local grocery store had really nice, large, green bell peppers at a reasonable price. I use bell peppers fairly regularly and was planning to make Peking Hamburgers,  (which this website has lifted from the “Cooking for Two” cookbook I got as a wedding present) and requires a bell pepper ring.
 

On Tuesday I went to the grocery store. Bell peppers were still on sale and were on the list. I remember stopping where the bell peppers were and picking one up and admiring it.
 

Two days later when it came time to make the hamburgers, I couldn’t find the bell peppers. Richard and I both looked in the refrigerator… I took most everything in there out. We looked on the table where some other produce was, under the table, behind the chairs, several other places in the living area. Maybe I left them in the car? Nope.
 

I was positive I had bought the bell peppers and  Richard was positive he had seen them when I brought them home.  I finally found the receipt for the groceries I had bought, and bell peppers were not on the receipt. I never bought them – although I was convinced I had – and Richard never saw them – although he was convinced he had.
 

One of the local pharmacies is recruiting people to participate in a study about Alzheimer disease and dementia. I am half tempted to sign us up.

Raccoon Fashion Show?

We used to have a clothesline that ran on a pulley system from the porch to the barn. It was lovely. If the weather was good, I could stand on the porch, pin the clothes to the line, and then send them off to wave gently in the breeze. Nothing quite like line-dried sheets. One very cold morning I began hanging the sheets on the line and they instantly froze.  We joked about “freeze-dried sheets.”

 I found one photograph of the clothesline from 2011. 

And yes, I was very active in the YMCA, and I still go three times a week. Back then the Y had a program where they gave away t-shirts for walking, and I accumulated some. I am still walking, but unfortunately, I have gained too much weight now to wear these t-shirts. I still have them because, after all, I may actually loose enough weight that I will be able to wear them again. Well, probably not, but hope springs eternal.

The clothes line met its demise when our barn collapsed (and I have no idea when that was).

This photograph of the front of the barn, which was still standing, with the pulley and line attached, but portions of the roof had collapsed and it was about ready to fall.

I used the drier, right up until a few months ago when it stopped blowing hot air and Richard was not physically able to repair it.

So I began draping the clothes on drying racks that Richard bought some years ago for drying clothes in front of our heaters. He took over doing the laundry (and all of the domestic chores) because I was laid up for almost 3 months with a fractured pelvis. He thought we could save some money on our electricity bill.

The appliance repair person has come and assessed the problem. We assumed it was the heating element, but it isn’t. The safety switch and thermostat are broken. The parts have been ordered. Richard guesses it is going to cost about $200, and wonders: Is the drier worth repairing if it breaks again??

Until the parts come in, I continue to use the drying racks and on hot summer days the clothes dry fairly quickly. A few days ago, I forgot about the clothes on the racks sitting outside, until Richard reminded me:

Are you going to bring the clothes in anytime soon or are you going to leave them out there for the raccoons to try on?