Category Archives: Uncategorized

Blame

We have had someone burglarizing forty floors of residents and the only thing the management office could do is send out an email, blaming us.

There are glaring errors in security here. I told them about the most vulnerable points of access. I walk our dog several times a day and know the neighborhood. When the wind comes up and the weather turns bad I look into other entrances to our place.

Why blame us? It is lack of security. The email should have said they were sorry and everything is being done to assure safety in our homes. Instead they tell us we are at fault and here is what we need to do.

There’s a new adminstration here and this is not a good sign. If my husband is traveling for work and doesn’t think I and our great dog Zoe are not safe, we will not live here anymore.

Thirty days notice. Women and retirees in this place do not feel safe. Do not blame us for break-ins, blame your lame security devices/access points and staff who don’t watch the cameras. We’ll just leave, and when we leave, many others will as well. Dee

ps All the dog owners in the neighborhood don’t call me Aunt Dee for nothing. I got a crosswalk installed and re-painted two years later. No-one stops. But the city owned one side and county the other and I got them to work together for change.

I Pick at Her

My husband gave our old dog Zoe a bath today in our bathroom, without telling me. I ended up doing the bath because it’s more like a spa day rather than “Daddy twisted me every which way to wash and rinse for 20 minutes as is his methodical persuasion.”

That’s Zoe. She’s our little Aussie runty shelter mutt. She’s smart. Forget the letters b-a-l-l, she even knows what spherical device means so when we’re told to go get it, we do as it’ll keep her quiet then she’ll sleep.

We go out 4-5 times together every day. If my husband is in town, she gets a long walk after her dinner so I can cook ours. Of late, she’s been shedding like crazy. I pull out tufts when we’re outdoors on walks so that the birds and squirrels can line their nests for a cold winter.

Zoe’s, then my husband’s shower made me clean the bathroom twice and do two loads of laundry. And husband didn’t ask if I had that in my plan, just did it. He is a kind person, means well and I love him dearly.

Hours, 24. That’s for Zoe to mostly air dry. I won’t take her to a groomer or allow several hair dryers to beat on her while she is in a crate. She hates any vacuum cleaner and is a wash & wear gal, like me. Those tufts are coming out like crazy and I want to pull them but need to let her dry.

Zoe needs a winter coat, and shouldn’t be shedding summer so if we get rid of the undercoat, she can always grow another. She only sheds 365 days a year! Tumbling tumbleweeds.

Tomorrow I guess I get to wash towels and sheets….. Cheerily, Dee

 

Villains

It makes me upset when I’m treated badly by co-workers. It makes me really angry when people attack my husband unfairly.

Recently, a villain he knew was let go. I knew years ago that the hand I shook was that of a snake and that I could never trust him. My husband is more trusting than I.

Another berated and undermined me until I begged our Director to transfer me. He did, to a great situation where they actually appreciated my work. My old boss became the Director and until his recent retirement he tried to get this guy for his shady tactics and that he went all-out to denigrate all the work I did on his behalf.

My boss never talked to me after I quit to go to greener pastures. I recently learned from a colleague that he worked for 30 years to get this guy. The boss would ban me from meetings, take over my work after it was completed and never thanked me for the work I did and many hours were spent for little money. I think he was protecting me.

He’d come in early in the morning and see me at my desk with the NYTimes and Village Voice I’d bought from my own money downstairs. I was working. He told me to read the papers that were sitting, unopened, on the floor. “That’s part of your job,” he’d say.

I like to think that old bosses, some, anyway, are still behind my work. Most of all, my husband takes care of himself at work. I need him to know I have his six all the time, home or traveling for work. I can’t believe KCMG spent thirty years on this, we all did some great work together back in the day. Cheers to the NYTimes crossword puzzles after five on Fridays, may the villains rot in h-e double toothpicks. Dee

Trip Advisor and Acropolis

I am a descendent of Pericles, founder of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece in 400 b.c. A visitor many times, you will not publish my reviews because Pericles was in my family.

The Parthenon, Propylaiea, Erectheion and Temple Athena Nike are to be demolished for a condo complex that will stand above ancient Greece. We must stop this demolition and condo complex. Please hear my words fellow humble visitor servant.

Would you still deny my review if a relative was involved? Kalinichta, Dee

ps This is NOT TRUE, just a lesson to a tiger that has changed its stripes. It milked us for data then used it and is throwing us away. I was a “top contributor.” Now “level six.” History has meaning as well, and does sway tourism. I like to be on the correct side of history, honoring it.

In Sickness and in Health

My dog is fine. She’s having a great time meeting and greeting and even meeting new pups. She’s 80 in people years, kind of reminds me of my Great Aunt O who lived to 100, or 98, or 104, who knows. She would never tell us. Neither did Zoe. I just put her portfolio in front of me and it told me she was just six weeks old when we got her from the shelter. She’s nearly twelve years now, hip-less and happy.

D downstairs is sick. I just made him some herbal tea and gave him Wellness Formula, which has gotten me out of way more than a common cold. Try double pneumonia.

In sickness and in health, I may have promised my husband, returning tomorrow, that years ago. As he did to me. That’s what we do. Healthily and happily, hoping to enjoy my good food…. Dee

Thank You, WordPress

I had trouble writing in high school. In college I was popular because of my vintage portable electric typewriter, the original Smith-Corona 1957. I wrote my paper first then the other gals stood in line. And I bought the ribbons!

During college I wrote talent agents and entertainers, read riders et al. Then I worked for government and analyzed legislation. After that, I wrote mission and vision statements and materials for non-profit organizations and wrote bylaws for non-profits where I was a Trustee.

In 2008 my husband said I needed to write. While on Thanksgiving vacation at his family’s home he created an account for me. It is not a traditional account because he’s a software genius but WordPress is my host.

You gave me the courage to speak from my heart and write 500 words in 15 minutes that would have taken days years ago on my Smith-Corona. I’ve traveled the country and bring my heaviest “laptop” ever that now goes for $6 on eBay! My aunt gave it to me, she bought it new, for my high school graduation.

I’d like to think my thoughts are more important than the pencil I used to convey those thoughts. 84,000 hits, not bad for a niche blog. I will not monetize my site nor will I keep from telling readers what I think that day. It could be that no-one stops at the crosswalk I had painted after contentious buy-in from both city and county, or my version of Lady Bird Johnson’s 1962 Pedernales River Chili that she served JFK and 5,000 guests at the Ranch.

Sworn to 1.000 posts I’m shy of 3,000 to retire. Yes, readers and followers are my buddies and friends. I’ve never met PDXKnitterati but we’ve been friends since our first week when we were named “best.”  I wrote about how to eat a Concord grape, that is still my most famous post. She knitted me a hat and introduced me to a singer, Juni Fisher. I hired Juni for a gig for Nanny’s 82nd birthday and she signed two CD’s to PDX. Juni has stayed with us many times since then and I’ve never met PDX.

Thank you for bringing new friends into my life through writing. Dee

Monuments Men

I wrote this about Ghirlandaio:

***

Please do take the time to see Sta. Croce and the Pazzi Chapel, then cross the bridge behind it and make the walk. Stop at the church halfway up and give some money to the lady who takes care of the feral cats there. Make sure she knows the money is for the gatti, or cats, otherwise she’ll be insulted as if you called her a beggar. She used to bring them great trays of pasta from a local restaurant.

Then I went to cooking school in Tuscany for my birthday one year and went to San Gimignano for an afternoon. 18 of us were on a custom bus and we had one hour to see the town. Two of us ran 20 minutes to Sta. Fina, with earlier Ghirlandiao fresci. Spent 20 minutes there then ran back and made it just in time.

If you don’t have the resources for an art tour of Italy right now (I don’t) please check out Tea With Mussolini, a film with Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, and Cher. If you’ve been to Florence or San Gimignano you may even recognize the streets as it was filmed beautifully. Yes, Cher, and brilliant as a newly rich American with a heart of gold.

Take care and think about how art changes lives. Then remember that art was all people had before Guttenberg and reading. Think of your reading skills and your children’s and have them appreciate art as well. There is a reason for all those religious stories in painting and sculpture, no matter what religion you follow of if you follow none at all.

***

Hitler stole all the art. We liberated some of it. I don’t like war movies per se but love this one. I can see paintings go by and thanks to Fr. Murphy can identify them in a heartbeat. Our monuments men, at the end of WWII could not save the millions of people who died during this war. They did save our history and culture. Whenever I visit a gallery I question “who owned this painting?” Where did they die? I did visit Dachau, no German wanted to tell me where it was. There were no signs. Only a camp.

The Germans stole lives and culture. Please go visit your local art gallery and find the art that families died for and could never retrieve. Dee

Gravlax

I’ve learned Kottsbullar from my neighbor, Swedish meatballs. Now I want to make gravlax on my own and give them some to taste. Both my next-door neighbors are Swedes. Go figure.

First I have to finish cleaning out the frig so I can place an entire tray in there with weights for 48 hours. And I have to do it when my husband is out of town because he is deathly allergic to fish and can’t even smell it.

I would like to make enough for girls’ night in, movie night, and for our two Swedish neighbors to give me feedback on what I can do better next time. Looking towards salmony-ness soon. Dee

ps When I make hors d’oeuvres for guests if it has nuts, I’ll put a nut on top. Anchovies, same. Fish, roe or something fishy if it’s fish. If it’s a small dinner party I suss out the allergies and dislikes. No broccoli? OK. Larger get-togethers, is’s better to “label” with ingredients. D

Creepy

This is the time of year for horror flicks, costumes et al. I buy a bit of candy each year but in 20 years no-one has visited. No-one can get in here unless I arrange for everyone with kids to come see us, and I am not into the Halloween spirit.

What is creepy is internet stalking that began yesterday by a local vendor who has my address, phone and other information. There are no good treats to go with that trick. For this individual we’ve a couple of special treats, personal security and video footage, everywhere.

Kids, be careful. Have a chaperone nearby and have your parents go through every treat before you eat one. I’m old enough that certain really nice ladies took the time and effort to make caramel apples and we knew the ladies but my parents still threw the apples away because they heard that nasty people were placing pins in them, long before biological weapons.

One day, long ago, my girlfriend arranged for me to stay with her that night so we could be downtown and go to apartment buildings and get a great haul. I still couldn’t eat any of my candy until I was picked up early the next morning and my parents went through the stash. I swear to this day that my mother swiped anything with chocolate and nuts! No caramel apples, though. Happy whatever, Dee

Harold

I would like to thank Harold for being a good friend to my father-in-law for many years. I’m just a gal but he has been a wonderful gift to our family.

He is such a thoughtful and meticulous man, whose home is being claimed by government to flood for a reservoir. He knows every tree, every inch of the land and will lose all of that as Dallas needs water.

Was I afraid? Yes. But he took us out to get two wild hogs. They caught them, we transported them and I wrote down the weights as they ran them through a scale. Then he went inside and was paid.

Those hogs were taken to Forth Worth TX then to France where wild boar is a delicacacy. Chingiale. Italian for wild boar equals delicious. I love that we’re sending France something and not the reverse but wish Texan chefs would feature wild boar. They eat crops. They know how to steal and eat well.

We have not had a close relationship but he did do something spectacular. At age 12, our nephew’s birthday, Harold surprised him with a deer hunting license and a trip. My brother-in-law had a license already and all three went out early the next morning.

There is a documentary that gives Harold’s and my father-in-law’s views on the flooding and destruction of the river. It has cost our family 500 acres. They’re now renting it for cattle but will have to give it up due to methane, yes cow patties.

Harold, I can feed a baby calf. I’m too old to do much else than cook for y’all and keep stuff up for your dogs. You gave this city gal some chops on the ranch. Thanks for being such a good friend to our family, Dee